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Fun things to watch for during a Football game… Physics in Motion Prof. David Toback Department of Physics and Astronomy October 8, 2009 David Toback Professor of Physics and Astronomy Watching a Football Game When you understand the science you can understand what makes a team successful I’ll show a couple of slides and video with some fun things to look for when you are watching your next game October 8, 2009 David Toback Professor of Physics and Astronomy Overview • Offense: Trying to score a touchdown • Defense: Trying to prevent a touchdown • Punting: Kicking the ball to the other team because it’s their turn Start with some of the principles, say a few words and then watch some examples October 8, 2009 David Toback Professor of Physics and Astronomy The Physics • Football, like most sports, is a game of speed and power, only more extreme • The quarterback can throw a ball over 70 yards (~70 meters) • The people protecting the quarterback are enormous, ~300 lbs (~150 kg) • The people trying to catch the ball are incredibly fast, some have run track in the Olympics! • Punters can kick a ball high in the air over 50 yards (~50 meters) David Toback October 8, 2009 Professor of Physics and Astronomy Why is this important? • One of the things that makes football players special is the balance between their speed and their size • This is especially important on offence and defense • Physics Equation: – Energy = ½ MV2 where M is the Mass of the player (how much he weighs, how big he is) and V is his speed (how fast or how quick he is) October 8, 2009 David Toback Professor of Physics and Astronomy So what? • If you are trying to run with the ball, then the bigger you are the more energy you have to not get tackled (you can break out of their arms!) • However: – Most really heavy people can’t run very fast – Most people who can run really fast aren’t very heavy • What makes these men special is that they are they are big AND fast October 8, 2009 David Toback Professor of Physics and Astronomy Offense • Offense: A running back’s effectiveness is dependent on his energy, which is a combination of both his mass and his speed (mostly his speed). For this reason he sometimes will start far back behind the line of scrimmage so he can get some real speed (some real energy). This allows him to bounce off tackles and make big gains. • Video clip 1: Running back in the backfield, gets lots of speed, breaks a few tackles, and runs for a big gain October 8, 2009 David Toback Professor of Physics and Astronomy Defense • Defense: A defense's effectiveness is dependent on the same thing. Again, a combination of mass and speed. Having big guys who can run fast is the ultimate advantage • Video clip 2: The defense is trying to get to the quarterback. By mistake one of them is allowed to run really fast so he can get to the quarterback • Video clip 3 Video clip 4: "The Hit" which is the ultimate combination of size and speed October 8, 2009 David Toback Professor of Physics and Astronomy Punting A punter kicks the football to a person downfield. While the ball is in the area his team runs down the field to try and tackle the guy who just caught the ball October 8, 2009 David Toback Professor of Physics and Astronomy Perfect Balance! Kick #2: #3: #1: • Good: Good enough: Spends Goes really Goes a long far! pretty time in far! • the Good Bad:air Doesn’t enough: so thespend Spends person a along trying good time to amount catch in the itair! of has time Person to wait. in catching theThis air so gives it the will have peoplelots trying who ofwant time to tackle to totackle start have him running LOTS enough before oftime time theto to people get getthere! there! • Bad: tryingDoesn’t to tackle go very him get far!there. He can build up speed! Makes him harder to catch and tackle October 8, 2009 David Toback Professor of Physics and Astronomy • Next time you’re at a Football game, watch the power and speed • Enjoy your Aggies! October 8, 2009 David Toback Professor of Physics and Astronomy