Throwing a ball in the air is a simple task, but this simple task has many important scientific factors involved. Science plays role in everything we do even if we don’t think about it. Lots of these things are in our lives and we don’t even acknowledge them on a daily basis. We know they are there, but don’t really think about them just let them do their thing. When something is flying through the air the number of factors at work is remarkable. Factors such as weight, wind, mass, and gravity all affect a ball and its flight when thrown in the air. The first scientific factor involved is mass. Mass is simply the amount of matter a certain object contains, but what is matter? Matter is anything that can be touched physically or takes up …show more content…
In addition to depending on the amount of mass, gravity also depends on how far you are from something. If you are far away from something its pull won’t have its full effect on you. If this were not the case the moon would be pulled down and crash into our planet and we would die. When we throw a ball up in the air when it is at its peak it will have a lesser pull from the earth then when it is only a few feet off the ground. Weight is the third scientific factor; however it goes right off gravity. Weight is the amount of gravitational pull on an object. For the reason that weight of an object depends on the strength of the pull on that object on the moon the object would weigh less than it does on earth. Again with weight the farther the object is the less it will weigh since the pull will be weaker. As the ball is accelerating upward its weight and gravity will be pulling at it and slow down its acceleration and eventually its speed until it causes it to start falling; as it is falling gravity will keep pulling causing it to fall faster and faster until it hits the ground.
The aerodynamics of the ball being thrown will greatly affect the flight of the ball. Aerodynamics is the way air moves around an object. In our case the object would be the ball, the air moving around it as it rises into the sky will slow the ball due to air resistance. Well-designed objects can manipulate the air making it use
Air pressure can indeed affect the distance that the football will travel. The data from the experiment proved that the more air pressure, or the more inflated the ball is, then the farther the ball will travel. When one tested the lowest air pressure, our results showed that a flat ball will not travel far at all when thrown at a consistent speed. When one inflated the ball only halfway, it traveled significantly farther than a fully deflated ball. Furthermore, when one inflated the ball to the regulated air pressure of the National Football League, it travelled farther than both the fully deflated and halfway deflated ball. The statistics also supported the hypothesis for this experiment. The averages correlated with the distance that
As the kicker steps forward and swings his/her leg back and then forward, contact with the football is made. The kicker kicks the football with the intention of the ball making it through the goal posts, which would result in either one (for an extra point) or three points (for a field goal). The kick is another example of a force. A great force is exerted on the football, causing it to accelerate and travel a distance (Newton’s first law of motion). Also, the football exerts the same force back on the kicker’s foot (Newton’s third law of motion). The kicker tries to kick the football about one-third of the way up the football (towards the bottom) so that the ball will travel high enough to get over the defense and high enough to maximize the distance. When the kicker hits the football, it is another example of an inelastic collision in which some of the energy is transformed into sound. The flight of the football can be described as projectile motion.
the moon 's orbit around the Earth, and the planets ' motions around the Sun. The
The game that America has come to know and love may have more behind it than everyday viewers and fans realize. Physics fuels every aspect of the game of football and is evident in the collisions that take place on every play. Watching a game of football can be a great learning tool to anyone interested in better understanding the laws of physics. Many great examples are provided on every snap. Mass, force, momentum, velocity and torque all play significant roles in the tackling action performed by players and the better you understand these terms the better you can begin to understand the game itself.
Passing is the way to get the ball around in this sport. A major part of the of this action is friction. Air resistance affects the ball, it slows it down and brings it down toward the ground. Rolling friction is shown when you pass the ball, when you pass the ball, the ball rolls over the mesh and releases into the air. The mesh speeds the ball up along with force. Face-offs require a topic called inertia. Inertia is shown
Khan Academy explains, “The second law of motion states that force on an object is equal to the mass of the object multiplied by its acceleration. If we apply this law to a football, it tells us that the amount that the ball accelerates depends on the force applied by the quarterback and the mass of the ball.” (“Football Physics”). The less mass a ball has the further it’s potential to travel is. The lighter the ball is, the faster and further the ball can move. Additionally, Khan Academy writes, “The second law also tells us that acceleration of the football also depends on the mass of the football. If the player is throwing an extra heavy football, the acceleration of the football would decrease compared to a lighter football that is thrown with the same force.” (“Football Physics”). This quote explains that the lighter a ball is, the farther a ball can be thrown. Also, the farthest a ball can be thrown depends on the amount of force the person throwing applies to the ball. (“Football Physics”). When a ball is lighter due to less air pressure, the quarterback will be able to throw it further. The less mass makes the ball lighter, and this will allow the wind to be able to carry the ball
Newton's third law states for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When throwing a lacrosse ball, the stretch in the netted pocket and the motion of the ball counteracts the force put into swinging the stick (http://www.livestrong.com/article/487887-the-physics-behind-throwing-a-lacrosse-ball/).
When the ball hits the ground the ball deforms and the air pressure increases in the deformed area and quickly through all the ball
This project deals with the effect of different gases on a football’s “hang time.” Hang time refers to how long the football is in the air. Five Wilson Touchdown Official footballs were bought from Target online and shipped to the researcher’s house. Then, four twenty liter cylinders of industrial grade gases were bought from Airgas online and shipped to the Southwest Virginia Governor’s School. The gases were Nitrogen, Helium, Argon, and Carbon Dioxide. Before this experiment was done, the footballs were filled with the different gases. The filling of the footballs were done in Mr. Frazier’s physics room at the Southwest Virginia Governor’s School. The first step in order to fill the footballs was to clamp one of the Helium gas cylinder to
The result was, it didn’t matter that the objects were heavier or lighter, they both landed at the same time. Galileo in this experiment he tested how gravity worked, he did this by going to the top of the leaning tower of Pisa and dropping two balls from the top, 1 heavy and 1 light, he was testing which one would land first and if the different weights had any effect on which would land first. When he dropped them they both landed at the same time. After this experiment, he also tested gravity with a board that was around 20 feet long
We have this problem with the ball “dropping” at an apparent average of 1.2 feet per second, according to the article. That’s hardly a drop in anyone’s book. Since any object in freefall accelerates at an average of 32
The results from this experiment show that the elasticity of a ball does not affect its bounce height. The golf ball was not as elastic as the tennis ball, but its results were much higher than that of the tennis ball. The results in this experiment tell us that while elasticity does have some affect on the bounce height of the ball, another variable is altering their bounce height. The information gathered from the table and the graph did not support the
Altitude is another factor you have to be aware of. If there is a lot of wind the ball will travel to the side, reducing the distance the ball travels. If the wind is at a low speed the ball will travel much further. The higher the altitude there is less dense air. Density is the amount it weighs or how much mass is in it. If the air is denser the ball will have to struggle to travel through it. The less dense air allows the ball to travel further. When you are closer to sea level the ball will travel less of the distance.
Every object in the universe that has mass exerts a gravitational pull, or force, on every other mass. The size of the pull depends on the masses of the objects. You exert a gravitational force on the people around you, but that force isn't very strong, since people aren't very massive. When you look at really large masses, like the Earth and Moon, the gravitational pull becomes very impressive. The gravitational force between the Earth and the molecules of gas in the atmosphere is strong enough to hold the atmosphere close to our surface. Smaller planets, that have less mass, may not be able to hold an atmosphere. This can be related to the gravity force lab because you can make the person with either magnet bigger or smaller. When you made both bigger they were harder to pull apart but when you make them both smaller they were easier to pull apart.
As humans, one major phenomenon that we have been able to learn about is the mastery of flight. Without the discovery of flight, airplanes would be a pipe dream! There are about 4 major forces that play into affecting how flight works. In this research paper we will discuss all of the concepts that allow this complex process to take place. The first force that we will discuss is one known as weight.