Download The Physics of Basketball

The Physics of Basketball
Please excuse
the
background
noise and
extra footage.
Newton’s first law
oIn Basketball, the ball is
the object that stays at rest
until acted on by an
outside force.
oThe ball rarely stays at
rest. You want it to keep
moving.
QuickTime™ and a
YUV420 codec decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
oThe forces from dribbling
or shooting the ball is what
keeps the ball moving.
oOh, and don’t forget
about passing
The black team is my club team…
Newton’s Second
law
Passing is an example
of Newton’s second law
dealing with force, mass,
and acceleration.
Force
Mass
acceleration
The force for passing is
from your personal
strength and what you
put into it.
We pass the ball a lot, to get down court, but
sometimes it doesn’t help…..
Newton’s third law
Basketball is all about Newton’s third law.
With every action there is a reaction.
For instance, when a ball is
passed, the ball acts on your hand
as your hand acts on the ball, just
as it does to the person it is passed
to.
When you dribble the ball, the ball
acts on your hand and on the floor,
same vice-versa.
When you shoot the ball, and miss, it
usually bounces off of the backboard,
and the backboard bounces off the ball.
QuickTime™ and a
YUV420 codec decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
A women’s
basketball is
approximately 18-20
oz.
Mass
• Everything has mass.
• In this game, all the players, what they wear,
the ball, and even the hoop and the net have
mass.
velocity
Velocity is speed with direction.
We have velocity while running, since we run
back and forth down the court, and pretty
much all over the place
There is velocity when we shoot the ball.
In the next slide you’ll see some examples of
velocity.
• This video shows more
than one thing.
velocity
QuickTime™ and a
YUV420 codec decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
It shows the second and
third law, and velocity
when number 3(me)
shoots
The force I put into my
shot of the ball(with mass)
gives it’s acceleration.
Also, the ball pushes off
my hand as my hand
pushes off the ball.
Not only that, but dribbling and shooting show all three laws. Passing shows the last two.
Also in this video, you can see the velocity and acceleration through our running up and
down the court.
Acceleration is speed, increasing, or decreasing, or coming to or There is great momentum in this sport.
from a stop.
Players of varied masses and speeds of their own.
In basketball, we want to keep our acceleration under control The more momentum; the more force.
We want to speed up when we need to and be able to come to a The faster a player can go, the easier it is to get through other players to
controlled stop.
score.
It is good o have momentum, but it can also be a negative factor. You could
have to much momentum that you can’t control.
The ball also has momentum while it is moving.
How much depends on the force and time put into a pass or shot
QuickTime™ and a
YUV420 codec decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
All theses players have momentum.
Gravity
Gravity is a force that keeps us down.
Without gravity who knows where in
the universe we would be.
When we fall, it is gravity that makes
us hit the ground.
Though you might not realize, there
is a lot of “on the floor time” in
basketball.
If it is not two or more people
colliding, then it could just be a wrong
step.
Also, it is gravity that brings the ball
back down when it is shot up in the air.
QuickTime™ and a
YUV420 codec decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Watch number 52 towards the middle, and how gravity acts on her
As I, #23, went to put the shot up, I left my feet, but since
gravity exists it brought me back down.
Energies
Potential Energy
 An example of potential energy in
basketball is during a free-throw shot.
 The players that are waiting to
rebound are holding potential energy.
Same as the person about to shoot.
 They are waiting for that moment to
let that potential energy turn to
kinetic energy.
Kinetic Energy
 Kinetic energy comes from potential
energy.
 Kinetic energy is the energy of a
moving object, before it hits
something.
Cited Sources
• http://thephysicsofbasketball.homestead.com/passing.h
tml
– This website helped me understand the concepts, and the
connection between the sport and physics better.
• http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/files/physicsof/
basketball.html
– This website also help me get a better understanding of
the concepts.
• I used pictures and video clips from the Lincoln Jv
07/08 season, and from my AAU team Lady Hardwood
Ballers 07/08 season.