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PHYSICS OF SPORTS
Sports Covered:
This page was designed to demostrate how physics applies to the everyday world
of sports. Here are 4 different sports that demostrate several aspects
of physics:
Newton's first law states that an object in motion will remain in motion unless
acted on by an outside force; an object at rest will remain at rest unless acted
on by an outside force.
What does bowling have to do with Newton's 1st law?
If you have ever bowled, you know that after rolling the ball it continues to
move across the alley until it comes into contact with the pins. After being
put into motion, the bowling ball will remain in motion until friction eventually
slows it down.
If the bowling alley never ended would the ball keep rolling forever?
No! As a result of friction (an outside force) the ball will eventually stop.
逼ewton's second law states that Force = Mass柊cceleration (F=ma). Newton's
2nd law applies to the shot-put and the discus (2 field events in track) becuase
the shotput, an object with a much greater mass than the discus, must be thrown
with much more force than the discus to reach the same acceleration.
Example:Shot-put throwers may throw the shot-put only 50 ft., whereas those
who throw the dicsus could throw it about 100 ft.
謬rack and Field not only apples to Newton's 2nd law of motion, but also
Newton's 1st law. Have you ever noticed that as runners cross the finish line,
they continue to move a few steps before halting? Due to inertia (the tendency
of an object to remain in motion or at rest) runners have a hard time stopping
at the finish line because it require a very sudden change in motion.
柊nother reason that the shot-put is so difficult to throw is because it is
so massive; it has a great amount of inertia. This means that its "desire" to
remain at rest is very high, so it will be very difficult to move.
 and the ground accordingly
pushes the ball back up into their hands (reaction). Another example of Newton's
3rd law in basketball is in the instance of a player shooting, missing and
hitting the backboard. As the ball is pushed against the backboard, the
backboard pushes against the ball, sending it out onto the court.
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Field Hockey vs. Ice Hockey
In field hockey, a sport which is played on grass, moving the ball from one side
of the field is much harder than moving an ice hockey puck across an ice rink
due to a force called friction
彦riction can be defined as the resistance to motion of two moving objects
or surfaces that touch.
There is more friction on a coarse, grassy surface than on the
slick surface of an ice rink due to the amount of resistance. Field hockey
player, therefore, must hit the ball with a great amount of force to send it
across the field, whereas ice hockey players can easily send a puck gliding
across the rink.
Email: tbilhartz@mailcity.com
