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The balls employed in a number of the world’s biggest sports are inflatable (see basketball, football, soccer and volleyball), which naturally means they can also be overinflated. And that’s just what a number of YouTubers have recorded on video… to explosive effect.

EXPLODING SOCCER BALL & FOOTBALL

In 2017, Daniel Gruchy of the Slow Mo Guys exacted revenge on a Franklin soccer ball after taking one repeatedly to the noggin, by pumping it full of air until it popped.

Slow Mo Guys explode Wilson NFL football

Gruchy and Gavin Free also used their electric air compressor to explode a perfectly-innocent Wilson NFL football. Before popping, both the soccer ball and football split along a seam, which caused the rubber-bladder within to distend like a blister.

EXPLODING ALL SPORTS BALLS

A year earlier, BrainfooTV exploded five types of sports ball and documented the results:

Space hopper: Time 13:02, Withstood 6 psi, Distance 5 feet
Football: Time 1:02, Withstood 45 psi, Distance 0 feet
Yoga ball: Time 53:00, Withstood 4 psi, Distance 5-plus feet
Basketball: Time 4:55, Withstood 66.5 psi, Distance 25 feet
Soccer ball: Time 1:36, Withstood 34.5 psi, Distance 5.5 feet

Not surprisingly, the yoga ball, being the biggest of the five, took the longest to fill with air before exploding in spectacular fashion, while the basketball withstood the highest pressure reading and travelled the furthest upon popping.