Physics Problem

Screeech

Sugat, a chemist extraordinaire, made balls out of an unknown material. The balls, when soaked in water, absorb it to become 99% water by mass. He notices that the surface of the ball is wet. The balls behave like ordinary balls when dropped on the floor. Accidentally, he drops the wet ball on a metal plate, maintained at a constant temperature of 200°C. To his surprise, he hears a high-pitched screeching sound (shortly followed by his own) when the ball hits the metal plate.

Intrigued, Sugat proceeds to make more detailed observations. (Assume: Water loss during each collision is negligible, total collision time increases with height.)

1. Explain the screeching sound.
2. Explain all possible long-term behaviors of the ball and plot h vs n for each case, where h is the maximum height reached by the ball between collisions and n is the number of collisions.
3. What would happen if there is no air resistance?