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Physics of Sports Video: The 20 Yard PassOur second project this year was the physics of sports videos. I was in a group with Brigid O'Brien, Dean Kidder-Buel, and Quinton Graybeal. We calculated the physics behind a forward pass, thrown by Quinton and caught by Dean. We found the vertical and horizontal velocity, and the force of the football being thrown and caught. Vertical velocity can be caught using v=at, so v= 9.8m/s x .625s, and we got 6.125m/s sq. The horizontal velocity can be found using v=d/t, so v= 18.29m / 1.25s and we got 14.632m/s. Finding the force was a bit tricky, though. Force can be found using mv=Ft, and the football throw was (.4kg)(15.8m/s sq) = F (.3s), so the force of Quinton throwing the football is 21.1 Newtons, or 5 lbs. The force of Dean catching the ball is found from the same formula, but the time of Dean holding the ball was .16s, so the force was 39.5 Newtons, which is about 9 lbs.
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Behind the scenes |
Making this video was a fun experience. We spent a couple hours in the hallway trying to finish the voiceovers, trimming the music, cutting and adding clips, and adding text. It was pretty awesome to see our work as a finished product, especially with its dramatic beginning. I am very proud of our physics of sports video.
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Reflection |
I thought this project was really fun and I really learned a lot. I was sad to see it go by so fast, because we only had a couple weeks, which felt like a couple days. My favorite part was filming because we got to go outside on the field and film. We had a lot of fun learning about football and physics! I learned about how physics can improve the sport, like knowing what angle to release the ball at for the best throw possible, and how much force someone has on the ball- 5 pounds! That's heavy. I wish we could've done something else in football to calculate, but there wasn't enough time. I also wish that we could've gotten a clearer video of the throw, and I will definitely make sure to do that next time.
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