Jump Shot Physics

e. Moving to the right or left and planting a foot to make a jump shot is a prime example of a player use the physical forces at his or her disposal. As the player moves to one side and plants a foot, the body coils. Springing off the floor to shoot a jumper not only serves to elevate the ball over a defender’s outstretched hands, the upward motion of the shooter’s body transfers a certain amount of force to the shooting hand as well. Jumping is a major component in the physics behind basketball.

When a basketball player jumps in the air to make a shot he can appear to be suspended in mid-air during the high point of the jump. This is a consequence of projectile motion. When an object is thrown in the air it will spend a large percentage of time in the top part of the throw. A basketball player can jump as much as 4 feet in the air. And the higher he jumps the greater the hang time and the greater the time he will appear suspended in mid-air during the high point of the jump. There is a horizontal and vertical component in the

Velocity is also important when jumping to shoot. When you first jump to take the shot, there is commonly a horizontal and vertical component in the jump's velocity. The magnitude of this vertical component of the velocity will determine the amount of time that you are airborne. The more magnitude you have, the higher you will jump. The force used to shoot a ball is created when acceleration and mass are put together. The trajectory path when shooting a basketball is very significant. The ball is acted on by acceleration due to gravity. There is a horizontal axis to show projectile motion, also known as the x-axis. This axis represents the distance the basketball travels, which increases over time. There is a second axis that is vertical, which is the y-axis. The y-axis commonly represents the height that the player is, along with the height of the