The Physics of Football
There is no question that everything people do in their lives involves physics. This is true from the way we communicate to the way that we fight wars. In some cases the influence of the laws of physics on our world are extremely apparent, such as in sports. Basketball, hockey, baseball and even cricket involve physics. From the most basic motions players perform in the game, to different plays designed by coaches, physics touches it all. These appearances of physics in the games that we play are sometimes so subtle we don’t even notice them. In other cases however, the impact of physics can be heard across the stadium as Jerome “The Bus” Bettis barrels his way into the endzone. The influences of physics on
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For instance a wide receiver whose game depends greatly on being able to accelerate quickly will prefer to play on an artificial surface with less friction. When a player gets in the open field he may be capable of reaching his maximum momentum. When this player's momentum is suddenly changed either with a great tackle or one hell of a hit the laws of physics concerning collisions, both elastic and inelastic, come into play.
An elastic collision is a collision in which kinetic energy is conserved, such as when a running back is hit so hard by the opposing team’s linebacker on a lead-draw play up the middle that the ball is forced out of his arms. The fumbled ball then hits the turf and because of the elasticity of the collision it bounces back up. Unlike an elastic collision, an inelastic collision does not conserve the kinetic energy of the colliding objects (Kirkpatrick & Wheeler 134). An example of an inelastic collision might be when a player catches the ball (if he catches the ball) and the momentum of the ball is completely stopped. However it is important to realize in this study of physics that a completely inelastic collision is impossible to attain in the real world because the energy isn’t really lost it is just converted into different forms such as the sound the collision makes. So in a play where a ball carrier is in the open field, a would-be tackler would try to apply an impulse in an attempt to stop the other
Baseball is an interesting game that is extraordinarily enjoyable to play. This task is about comprehension the material science of a couple key parts of this game. One may ask what material science could need to do with baseball? Like most games baseball includes physical movement. Baseball incorporates each of the three planes of movement through tossing, hitting, and handling. The greater part of the traditional laws of mechanics can be connected to comprehend the material science of this amusement.
the game of football many rules, in addition to the chop blocking rules, are in place for the player’s safety and success.
Finally, some of these college sports (such as football) are high contact and immensely vicious, which can cause injuries such as
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.
Rule changes in the NFL have been made throughout the history of the league to improve the game, make it more exciting and reduce the risk of injury. Safety rules are one of the most important and effective ways in which the NFL and its owners can help protect the health of players. By helping to identify, promote and enforce safe on-field conduct (in concert with off-the-field education and policies), the league seeks to preserve both the health of players and the integrity of the game.
Lacrosse is defined as a ball game invented by American Indians, now played by two teams who try to propel a ball into each other's goal by means of long-handled hooked sticks that are loosely strung with a kind of netted pouch (Farlex, Inc.). Behind every shot taken in a lacrosse game, elements of biomechanics are implemented. Biomechanics is the “sport science” field that applies the laws of mechanics (movements, body angles, joint positions, etc.), biomedical engineering, and physics (gravity, forces, velocities, etc.) to athletic performance (What is 3D Biomechanics).
Football is game of speed, strength, and strategy. The best way to be a better player is working on becoming bigger and stronger while maintaining the speed, but when the players mass, strength, and speed all get better the forces the can produce a greater force with their hits. According to Timothy Gay, Physics professor at the University of Nebraska and author of The Physics of Football, a Defensive Back at the average one-hundred and ninety pounds that runs a 4.56 forty-yard dash can produce sixteen-hundred pounds of tackling force, which easily can break any bone of the human body. Due to the extreme forces the players are exposed to, it is necessary for each player to wear pads that help reduce and spread out the forces, and helmets
Spinal cord injuries are a literal pain in the neck and can cause many players and victims to end their careers. These injuries can be caused by hard blows to the head, face, and neck (Bradley). According to Dr. Timothy Gay, a physics professor from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, most injuries like Kevin Everett’s occur during kickoffs (ESPN). Players run full speed at each other causing a harder collision. Gay explained that another main cause to these injuries is tackling with your head down. Newton’s 2nd law of motion states that an object in motion tends to stay in motion (F=ma or force equals mass times acceleration). When Everett hit Hixon, the deceleration of his body caused his head to compress down on his neck (ESPN). Concussions can also be a result of big hits. When one player’s helmet hits another player’s helmet, or the ground, the brain can get knocked around and bruise it, causing severe headaches. Concussions are very common in the NFL, and all though they are still very dangerous, players are allowed to return to
Playing football is not like playing other sports. Athletes in all kinds of sports risk injuring themselves, but in football, a lot of the risk comes from other athletes. While there are many ways to be injured playing football, one of the worst is head-to-head targeting. This has been a problem in football since the beginning of the game, especially, when equipment was not very protective. Over the past eight years, the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) has implemented rules and penalties specifically designed to protect players and to hopefully reduce the number of bad head injuries (Marshall). The NCAA is doing the right thing by protecting players from severe injury by calling and enforcing targeting penalties.
The number of concussions in professional and amateur football has been rising and has sparked much controversy in recent years. These concussions are most likely linked with disease and even the deaths of some pro and semi-pro football players. New research is attempting to solve the problem but the issue is still prevalent in football today.
Despite its long history, tackle football needs to evolve with modern times in order to prevent the following: concussions, their reoccurrence in players, and the long-lasting health problems that come with them. The National Football League (NFL) has acrobatic plays, hard tackles, and head to head collisions, which all lead to concussions. According to researchers, “[i]n a concussion, the jolt jars brain tissue and can stretch or break thin tendrils called axons that carry signals among brain cells, short-circuiting thoughts and commands to the body. Plus, jangled cells release chemicals that disrupt healthy cells” (LaMendola). This can lead to confusion and lack of performing simple actions. In the NFL, over a hundred diagnosed concussions
It can lead to more severe types of consequences. In the story, “Hard Knocks”, the author states, “Football has always been a sport known for hard tackles and rough play, making injuries inevitable. A typical high school football player receives about 650 hits to the head per season, according to research conducted by the University of Michigan’s NeuroTrauma Research Laboratory. In 2014, more than 9,500 concussions were reported among high school football players in the U.S.”(pg.3, paragraph 2) This quote demonstrates that when playing football, the force is high for them to cause a concussion and it is very hard to recover. A few people died, according to the research. Another quote that supports this argument in the infographics is, “Football Hits That Leads To A Concussion, 100G”. This is a huge amount of force exerted to the player, and that can cause a concussion, or a brain injury. Both of these texts and their subsquent evidences matter to the paragraph because they show that the force causes a more chance to have a
There is a dark cloud hanging over the world of contact sports and it is growing at an alarming rate. With the size and speed of today’s athletes, the sports of football and hockey have become more exciting, fast paced, wide open, and fun to watch. However, there is another consequence of these ever growing athletes on their sports. They have made the collisions in them increasingly more violent. The velocity that these athletes hurl themselves through the air has created an atmosphere that could not have been imagined when these sports were created. Although the athletes’ bodies have become
Have you ever wondered the side effects of hard contact hits in high impact sports like football? High impact hits is when you collide heads with another player while playing the sport. In my opinion, I think there should be more rules or equipment to prevent these hard hits because you can have memory problems, you can get severe headaches for the rest of your life, and they can lead to depression.
The second thing I wanted to look in this picture was the transfer of kinetic energy from the stick to the puck and to see if kinetic energy would be conserved in this collision. A collision is classified as is momentum being conserved from one moving object striking another