A beach ball is an inflatable ball for beach and water games. Their large size and light weight take little effort to propel; they travel very slowly and generally must be caught with two hands.
They became popular in the 1960s series of films starring Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, which were beach-themed and displayed beach balls. These movies include Beach Party, Muscle Beach Party, Beach Blanket Bingo and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini.
Video Beach ball
Design
Beach balls range from hand-sized to over 3 feet (1m) across or larger. They generally have a set of soft plastic panels, with two circular end panels, one with an oral inflation valve, intended to be inflated by mouth or pump. A common design is vertical solid colored stripes alternating with white stripes. There are also numerous other types of design, which include but are not limited to beach balls in a single solid color, promotional beach balls with advertisements or company slogans, as globes or as Emojis.
Some manufacturers claimed "diameter" of a beach ball is actually the tip-to-tip length of a deflated ball (approximately half a circumference), or even the length of the panels before they have their ends cut and joined into a beach ball. Thus the actual diameter may be about (? 0.6366...) of the nominal "?".
Moreover, other sizes of beach balls exist, ranging from smaller to larger ones. There are beach balls that have 5 feet (1,50 meters) or even 9 feet (2,75 meters) of diameter.
The world's largest beach ball was made in London, England on May 30 of 2017. It was carried by a barge on River Thames. It had the diameter of 19.97 meters (65'6''ft) and had "Baywatch" written all over it. It was produced by Paramount Pictures for promoting the 2017 movie Baywatch. The record was registered by Guinness and the certificates were given to the members of the film's cast.
Maps Beach ball
Uses
Beach ball sports include water polo and volleyball. While they are much less expensive than the balls used in professional sports, they are also much less durable as most of them are made of soft plastic. Giant beach balls may be hit around between crowd members at concerts, festivals, and sporting events. Many graduates use beach balls as a prank during ceremonies, hitting them around the crowd. They are bounced around crowds at cricket, baseball and football games but frequently confiscated and popped by security. Some security personnel of these events might even inspect the beach ball's interior after tearing it, most likely searching for illegal items (e.g. narcotics) that might be being transported inside the beach ball. The guards also might do this so the beach ball cannot end up on the field and obstruct or distract players, such as what happened in August 1999, on a baseball game between the Cleveland Indians and the Los Angeles Angels, where the distraction caused by a beach ball on the field resulted in Angels' defeat.
Their light weight and stability made them ideal for trained seals to balance a beach ball on their noses, which has become an iconic scene. Beach balls are also a popular prop used in swimsuit photography and to promote or represent beach-themed events or locations, as well.
See also
- Balloon
- Inflatable
- List of inflatable manufactured goods
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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