Watching a weekend football game could be teaching you something
other than who threw the most passes or gained the most yards.
Football provides some great examples of the basic concepts of
physics! Physics is present in the flight of the ball, the motion of the
players, and the force of the tackles. This web page will show you
how physics applies to these areas of football.
What Exactly Is Physics and
What Does It Have to Do with Football?
When you throw a football across the yard to your friend, you are using physics. You make adjustments for all the factors, such as distance, wind and the weight of the ball. The farther away your friend is, the harder you have to throw the ball, or the steeper the angle of your throw. This adjustment is done in your head, and it's physics. Physics is the branch of science that deals with the physical world. The area of physics that is most relevant to football is mechanics, the study of motion and its causes. The three main categories of motion that apply to the game are:
* delivery of a football through the air (pass, punt, kickoff, field goal, extra point)
* runners on the field (backs, receivers, linemen)
* stopping runners on the field (tackling, blocking)
FLIGHT OF THE BALL
When the football travels through the air (long pass, punt, kickoff,
field goal), it always follows a curved, or parabolic, path because
the movement of the ball in the vertical direction is influenced by
the force of gravity As the ball travels up, gravity slows it down until
it stops briefly at its peak height, the ball then comes down, and
gravity accelerates it until it hits the ground. This...
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... the amount of force applied:
Less force is required farther out from the center of mass than
closer in. So, by tackling a runner low -- far from the center of
mass -- it takes less force to tackle him than if he were tackled
high. Also, if a runner is hit exactly at his center of mass, he will
not rotate, but instead will be driven in the direction of the tackle.
Similarly, coaches often advise linemen to stay low. This brings
their center of mass closer to the ground, so an opposing player,
no matter how low he goes, can only contact them near their
center of mass. This makes it difficult for an opposing player to
move them, because they will not rotate upon contact. This
technique is critical for a defensive lineman in defending his own
goal in the "red" zone, the last 10 yards before the goal line.
Next, velocity is the speed of something, or someone in this case, in a given direction. You can also refer to it as momentum. The velocity the kicker is moving will affect the outcome of the distance. When kickers kick a field goal, they don’t stand right next to the spot of the ball. They usually stand two to three yards back, depending on how far away the field goal is. With a PAT, the kicker only needs to stand back two yards...
Machin, W. (2014, February 6). The Physics of Throwing a Football. In Livestrong.com. Retrieved March 20, 2014
Baseball is a fascinating sport that is exceptionally fun to play. This assignment is all about understanding the physics of a few key aspects of this sport. One might ask what physics could have to do with baseball? Like most sports baseball involves physical motion. Baseball encompasses all three planes of motion through throwing, hitting, and fielding. All of the classical laws of mechanics can be applied to understand the physics of this game.
The targeting rule in college football could be the “most significant rule” change ever made in the game (Matter). According to Greg Johnson of the NCAA, the rule was passed by the Football Rules Committee of the NCAA in February of 2013 to be implemented with the 2013 fall football season and is consistent with the committees’ continued attempt to address player safety. The new rule now places a tougher penalty on the defensive player for dangerous contact with the offensive player, notably direct helmet-to-helmet hits, or hits aimed above the shoulders of the offensive player. This direct, helmet-to-helmet contact is known as targeting. Although the implementation of the new targeting rule is controversial, it will help to reduce the number of serious lifelong head injuries to football players and make college football a safer sport.
Machin, W. (2014, February 6). The Physics of Throwing a Football. In Livestrong.com. Retrieved March 20, 2014
In order to explain how air pressure drops when the temperature does you would need to use the concept of the ideal gas law. This states that pressure times volume is equal to the amount of gas times the ideal gas constant times temperature. This formula proves that when it is cold, the pressure in a football decreases, causing it to naturally deflate itself. (Florio,2015)
drop. The more G.P.E the ball has a the start of the drop (point A),
To describe football, regulation requires that teams win by earning the most points than the opposing team like shooting hoops in basketball or running to home plate in baseball. During the process of the game, either team will play in offense or defense in order to gain or prevent points. Unlike most sports, the game of football require an enormous amount of physical contact that
There are three main energy systems used in a game of touch football which consist of the creatine phosphate (ATP PC) system, lactic acid system and the aerobic system. Each system plays a vital role during game play. Every muscle in your body requires energy to perform all movements, and to do this, the energy is produced by the breakdown of a molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP is found in all cells which is a chemical form of muscular activity and performs mostly all functions in the human body. It contains 3 phosphate groups and adenosine. ATP is stored in the muscles and lasts for approximately 10-30 seconds. Carbohydrates, fats and proteins, are all producers of ATP from the food we eat; however Creatine Phosphate is also a high energy compound producer found in the cells. These three chemical reactions are conducted to continue muscular work. The first system used in a game of touch football is the ATP PC system. This system is stored into the muscles and used in short durations for up to 10 seconds and doesn’t not require oxygen therefore being anaerobic. ATP lasts approximately 3 seconds, and then Creatine phosphate (CP) will continue until all ATP PC energy is used up. The use of ATP is high intensity and would usually be used in a 50m sprint or a pass in touch. Once the CP energy is used up the body then switches to the lactic acid system. This is because of the breakdown of glucose, resulting in the production of lactic acid. The lactic acid system an anaerobic energy system, which lasts for approximately 30 seconds to 2 minutes, and is the conversion of glycogen to glucose. In relation to a game of touch football, the lactic acid system could be used during a quick wruck, as the movements required are a...
Soccer is a sport that’s very challenging and during the course of this semester I’ve found physics can also be described as challenging. As far as I was concerned soccer and physics were both challenging and that was all they had in common, consequently upon researching them both this semester I found that I was wrong. For me this was nothing new because I’ve found that physics isn’t a subject that can be skimmed, but rather it has to be studied to the finest detail. Those small details if missed can make all your efforts worthless. Or on the positive side understanding those details can make your efforts worth it in the end. And in soccer if you understand the physics, which to most players would be considered as the small details, it pays off in the end. So really how does physics come into play with soccer?
In conclusion, football and soccer have their similarities, but these similarities are superficial. There are many fundamental differences, such as the use of one’s hands being illegal in soccer, except for the goalie when he/she is inside his/her respective eighteen-yard boundary. Another example is the alternation of a team’s offense and defense in football as opposed to the simultaneous effort of the offense and defense in soccer. These differences in rules, rituals, and concepts distinguish these two sports from each other. However, there are similarities, such as the fact that both sports allow eleven players on each team to play on the field at a time. Also, the area where one scores is in the same locations in both sports, the end zones of football and the goals of soccer are on opposite sides of the field.
The rules of these similar yet vastly different games are extremely complex, so only the basics are necessary to distinguish the better sport. In football, the primary rule is that you must advance the ball forward by throwing it or running with it. Once a player with the ball is downed, the entire team lines up again, and the ball is snapped to the quarterback. The short pause in-between each down may not seem significant, but it definitely takes its toll on the excitement.
fibers. When ATP and is in turn broken down, the result is a spark of
movement of the ball as it hits a hard surface. I will drop the ball 3