Newton´s Three Laws of Motion

Physics is involved in everyday life and can be an essential explanation for how things work. Being a lacrosse goalie involves physics concepts and proves how they apply to every movement that is made on the field. To better understand the physics of a goalie, you must understand how Newton’s Three Laws of Motion work; Inertia, force equals mass times acceleration, and equal and opposite forces, as well as another law torque and leverage.

The first law of Newton’s Laws is inertia. The basic definition of inertia is an object in motion will stay in motion until acted on by an outside force, as well as an object as rest will stay at rest until acted on by an outside force (Serwalt, R. & Faughn, J). This law applies to just about every move in the game of lacrosse. When a player picks up the ball in their stick, before they start to move, the ball is at rest, but once the player begins to move and cradle the ball, the ball is now in motion. The only way to stop the motion of the ball is if the player decides to stop moving and try to waste time. This would be called as a stall in the game, and causes a turn over. A good example of the ball staying in motion until acted on is when the goalie has the ball and begins to clear. A “clear” is when the goalie has possession of the ball and is looking for a player from the team to pass to, to get the ball out of the defensive zone into the other teams defensive zone (NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Rule Book, 2014) . When the goalie clears the ball it has to be a long pass. A good goalie can clear the ball the length of half of a football field, and if the pass is to high to the teammate to catch then the ball will be acted on by the force of gravity and the ground which causes the ball the ...

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...ase (the player shooting the ball), and you have to motion of the projectile (the way the player shoots). The importance about the motion of the stick when the player shoots is to make sure that with their most dominant hand, the one that’s highest on the stick, is pushing forward and with their bottom hand they are pulling back towards their ribcage and armpit area. When watching this motion from the side you can clearly see the lever arm being put into action on the field.

Men’s lacrosse, as a goalie, and physics are tied together in many ways. You can explain the effectiveness of a pass, all the way down to picking up the ball from the ground. The main topics that explain the game of lacrosse are all three of Newton’s Laws of Motion; Inertia, Force equals mass times acceleration, and equal and opposite forces, and another law that applies, torque and leverage.