Anybody else doing physics during the game today?

Greg Cleveland · Feb 5, 2012

My son has some extra credit to do during the Super Bowl. He has to record one kick off and one punt: hang time, and distance the ball travels. Taking those factors, then he has a few problems to work on.

1. Convert yards into meters. (Why? This isn't he CFL!)
2. Calculate the maximum height reached by the ball.
3. Calculate the initial horizontal velocity.
4. Calculate the initial vertical velocity.
5. Calculate the initial velocity.
6. Calculate the angle from the ground that the ball was kicked.

Conclusion: Compare and contrast a kick off and a punt. (What angle do you think will give the maximum distance?)

My brain hurts just typing all that! He doesn't watch football, so I will record his initial data for him then send him off to work on it. Takes all the fun out of football!

rymflaherty · Feb 5, 2012

I'll admit........I'd have no idea how to do that. :lol:
But I will say that's a great job by the teacher to try to incorporate that kind of stuff into something a majority of the kids will be paying attention to. For the kids that do it, I bet there's a much higher chance they actually remember some of that stuff then if they had just been assigned similar problems out of a text book. So I give the teacher some Kudos.

JakeTheSnake16 · Feb 5, 2012

I remember doing a football project in Physics, fun stuff.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/physics-of-football2.htm

Check this site about the Physics of Punting.

Greg Cleveland · Feb 5, 2012

Hey Jake, did you get some mail from me yet?

JakeTheSnake16 · Feb 5, 2012

Yes! Thanks again man!

rsmath · Feb 5, 2012

Greg Cleveland said:
1. Convert yards into meters. (Why? This isn't he CFL!)

Because the US is going to be acquired by China in the next decade (or we'll be dumping the English measures system for metric at some point). Might as well get to know and get comfortable with metric.

My brain hurts just typing all that! He doesn't watch football, so I will record his initial data for him then send him off to work on it. Takes all the fun out of football!

makes football fun! Gives kids something fun to do that involves math and science. Maybe saves the U.S. from going entirely down the toilet bowl - look at today's kids and we're well on the way of the swirl down the bowl.

I think this sounds fun enough that I"m going to try it.

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Anybody else doing physics during the game today?

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