The Physics of Basketball
The NBA playoffs are making the headlines all over. Every news channel, sports channel, and newspaper has a story about the big games. Everyone is making bets as to who will be the big champions. Will it be the defending champions, Los Angeles Lakers, or will it possibly be one of the underdogs. This is the most intensive time of year for basketball fans as they watch the teams battle out the game. Up and down the court, the turnovers, rebounds, fast breaks, and most of all the baskets make the games exciting. But have you ever wondered how these things happen? What enables the basketball to bounce, how does Kobe Bryant fly through the air, and why does the ball rotate backwards as it leaves a shooter’s hand and approaches the basket? These are all interesting questions and believe it or not they can all be answered with a discussion on physics. Whenever you watch a basketball game you are watching the “application of physics. It is very much at work in the game of basketball” (Hawkins).
One of the key pieces of equipment in the game is the basketball itself. The ability of the ball to bounce is entirely explained by physics. The law of conservation of energy says that the total energy of an isolated system does not change (Kirkpatrick, 131). When the ball comes in contact with the floor an elastic collision occurs in which the kinetic energy of the system is conserved. Two things determine the elasticity: the air pressure in the ball and the surface it is colliding with. The more pressure in the ball, the better the bounce and the greater elasticity. The energy will be stored in the compressed air inside the ball creating a greater bounce. “Air stores and returns energy more efficiently than ...
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... air, just remember that it takes the same amount of time for him to reach the basket as it does for him to fall. You may also want to notice how the ball spins as well as how it bounces. As you are watching the playoffs this year keep in mind that the application of physics is very much at work in the game of basketball.
Bibliography
Hawkins, Bethany. Physics of Basketball. “Intro to Basketball and Physics.” http://www.kent.wednet.edu/staff/trobins/physicspages/PhysOf1998. 25 March 2003.
Kirkpatrick, Larry D., Wheeler, Gerald F. Physics A World View. Fourth edition, Harcourt College Publishers. Orlando, Florida. 2001.
Willis, Bill. The Physics of Basketball. http://www.geocities.com/thesciencefiles/physicsof/basketball.html. 13 March 2003.
Brancazio, Peter J. Physics of Sports. “Physics of Basketball. Department of Physics. Brooklyn, New York. 1981.
Josephine Baker was born to Carrie McDonald, in St. Louis, MO on June 3, 1906. The situation on who Baker’s father is up to debate, it is rumored that Eddie Carson was her father. Eddie Carson was a drummer and had an entertainment act with Baker’s mother. At birth, Baker’s name was Freda Josephine McDonald. (Robinson) Later, Baker changed her name when she got into the entertainment business. In her youth, Baker was always poorly dressed and hungry; she started working at the age of 8 years old. (Whitaker 64) She worked as domestic help for a white family; the woman of the house was reportedly abusive to Baker. At the age of 12, Baker dropped out of school. After Baker dropped out of school, she became homeless. (Wood 241–318)
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Ella attended Sunday school and Bible study in addition to worship services, Here, Ella was introduced to music and singing. In school, Ella liked to dance and perform for others. When she entered fourth grade at a public school, she did not have a lot a lot friends because she did not know how to talk to others without hurting their feelings. She had to go to the school that was less expensive because they did not have that kind of money to spend on a private school. Ella had been singing since she was 4 years...
K = ½ x m x Va² and so the formula for the rebounding ball must be K =
With his charismatic nature that allowed him to connect with all the groups of the opposition, Khomeini led the revolution and overthrew the Shah. For the religious and traditional masses of Iranians, he represented authentic Shi’a Iranian culture. For the idealistic students who were the leaders of the revolution, he represented unconventional defiance against the Shah’s regime. Khomeini understood the pain and alienation of all of his followers, who felt separated from their own Islamic culture as a result of the Shah’s westernization, and his charisma allowed him to unify the opposition against the Shah. With mass demonstrations all throughout Iran that immobilized the country, the Shah had no choice but to abdicate his position as monarch
It is a vital role of a dentist to prevent the dental problems in order to decrease the number of oral disease.
Many of us know of the fun game of basketball, the object of the game is to basically run up and down the court and shoot the ball, and block the other team when they try to score. Whichever team has the most points at the end of the game is the winner. According to Bran Faurschou’s article, “ NBA Hoops Online” Basketball was invented in 1891 by, Dr. James Naismith. He was a physical education instructor. Back then the game of basketball was a little bit different, It was the same concept but it was different. When Dr. James was working as the physical education instructor at the YMCA training school, he came up with the game of basketball as an activity for his
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Can you imagine playing the game of basketball without a three point line? Basketball has constantly changed throughout history and continues to change today. The National Basketball Association has risen in popularity and is now one of America’s most popular sports. Because basketball continues to be a popular sport, a fan should learn about the origin of the NBA, how the game evolved from the late 1940s to the early two thousands, and how the players today impact the way it is played.
Basketball is a sport that has changed in various ways since its invention in 1891. It has evolved and expanded across the United States and across the world. Although it has had its ups and downs basketball is still a sport that is enjoyed by over 250 million people in this world. Today it is one of the biggest sports known and it continues to grow every year with new players bringing new styles and competition. The changes throughout the history of basketball can be shown through its origin, how it developed into a competitive sport, and its evolution into present day leagues.
The most important part of the game of basketball is shooting the basketball, after all the object of the game is to put the basketball through the basket. A shot is taken by a player pushing on the ball and launching it toward the basket and upon the ball hitting the rim or backboard physics refers to this action as a contact force. Using this concept of contact force a shot can be calculated exactly. From a player’s height, the mass of the ball and a given position on the court which would include the distance from the basket it is possible to calculate the exact angle and force the shooter must apply to make a basket every time he or she shoots the ball. Of course if it were this easy basketball would not be as fun to watch or play. The problem with hitting a shot every time with the calculated angle and force is that the ball would have to travel toward the basket with the exact angle and force calculated for that particular shot. What makes this difficult is that the muscles in our body would have to be controlled flawlessly to push the ball with the exact amount of force and to give the ball the exact angle that is needed every time a shot is taken...
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Basketball is a team sport which has enormous admiration and frolicked with the aid of a ball that is shot into a basket placed horizontally. The objective to shoot the ball that is scores which are increased by resulting definite rules of the game. The game is played by 2 teams establishing 5 players each who play on a noticeable rectangular floor with baskets on mutually ends. The game of basketball was invented by James Naismith in 1891. James Naismith was a physical education teacher at McGill University and later at Springfield College (then Y.M.CA.) at Springfield, Massachusetts. Under the guidance of physical education specialist, Luther Halsey Gulick, he invented basketball as an indoor sport. Basketball is the world’s popular sports