The Soccer Ball: Effect of Air Pressure on the Movement of the Soccer Ball

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Can you bend it like Beckham? With the right training, skill, and knowing more about the soccer ball, the individual will! The soccer ball is a very interesting object. A soccer ball has to have a certain amount of air pressure in order to work properly. The air also affects the soccer ball’s flight. The soccer ball is also made of different kinds of material and has different sizes. In the next couple of paragraphs I will tell you more about a soccer ball and the air pressure.

The first soccer ball was a rubber soccer ball made of pig or ox bladder with leather in the 1800s (The Science of Soccer, 1998). At that time it was difficult to make a regular shaped ball and maintain it while playing. By the 1900s most soccer balls were made of rubber bladder instead of animal bladder. It was found that soccer balls made with animal bladder were harder and wouldn’t lose their shape. Even though it was easier to kick the ball the soccer ball absorbed lots of water if it rained and made the ball very hard which caused head injuries. In the late 1980s the leather casing inside was replaced by artificial casing which was used in most of Europe. In modern day the soccer balls are still made of artificial casing which you can pump air into through a little hole on the top of the casing (FIFA magazine, 1998). An adult soccer ball has a circumference of 25 to 27 inches and weighs 14 ounces. On the other hand a kid’s soccer ball is 24 inches in circumference and weighs a little less than an adult soccer ball (“Soccer”, 2002).

Soccer ball (Google Images)

According to Davidhanzy (1998) if a soccer ball is dropped on a hard surface it will bounce back lower than it started. This kind of motion is called the bouncing of the soccer ball. Th...

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...lt in water. Although water is generally considered to boil at 100°C (212°F), water actually boils when the vapor pressure is the same as the air pressure around the water (Physics, 2006). Because of this the boiling point of water is lower in lower pressure and higher at higher pressure. Did you know that baking cookies above 3500 feet above sea level require special cooking directons (Burt, 2004).

The amount of air pressure in a soccer ball effects how far the ball will travel when kicked. The higher air pressure that is put into a soccer ball improves the ball's flight off the foot of a player. The air pressure also plays a role in how far a ball travels. At lower pressure there is less friction (Physics, 2006).

In conclusion if someone practices every day and finds out more about a soccer ball the individual will one day be able to bend it like Beckham.

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