The Physics of Basketball

Please excuse the background noise and extra footage.

Newton’s first lawoIn 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.

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…

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Newton’s Second lawPassing 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.

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Mass• Everything has mass.• In this game, all the players, what they wear,

the ball, and even the hoop and the net have mass.

A women’s basketball is approximately 18-20 oz.

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.

velocity

It shows the second and third law, and velocity when number 3(me) shootsThe 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.

• This video shows more than one thing.

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.

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Acceleration

Acceleration is speed, increasing, or decreasing, or coming to or from a stop.

In basketball, we want to keep our acceleration under controlWe want to speed up when we need to and be able to come to a controlled stop.

There is great momentum in this sport. Players of varied masses and speeds of their own. The more momentum; the more force.The faster a player can go, the easier it is to get through other players to 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

Momentum

All theses players have momentum.

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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. Watch number 52 towards the middle, and how gravity acts on her

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As I, #23, went to put the shot up, I left my feet, but since gravity exists it brought me back down.

EnergiesPotential 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.html– 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.