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Physics of baseball

When a person swings a baseball bat and hit a ball with a wooden bat rather than a aluminum bat, it will generally not travel nearly as far. Why is this? This is a concept of momentum on the baseball field. The biggest reason for the ability for a person to hit a ball further with an aluminum bat is because when they do, they are able to swing the accelerate the bat to higher speeds than if they were to use a wooden bat. Momentum is directly proportional to velocity therefore the faster the swin

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Physics of Frisbee

A common item such as a Frisbee has very complex physics concepts that explain why it behaves a certain way. The two main physical concepts behind the Frisbee are aerodynamic lift and gyroscopic inertia. The two main aerodynamic forces acting on a Frisbee are the drag and lift forces, these forces have a relation ship with one another and is used in order to determine the magnitude of either force. The rotation of a Frisbee is a necessary component in the mechanics of how a Frisbee flies. With

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Physics of Swimming

Swimming is a popular activity, both for recreation and competition. The physics of swimming involves an interaction of forces between the water and the swimmer. It is these forces which propel a swimmer through the water. When a person swims there are more forces acting upon them than you might think. First off a swimmer must push off the water in order to create thrusting force generally parrallel to the surface of the water, There is also the force of gravity on a person working in the y-dire

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Physics of sound

Even the most fundamental things have physics concepts behind them, In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as a typically audible mechanical wave of pressure, through a transmission medium such as air or water. This is also where physiology comes into play as well.  The sounds we are all so familiar with are only our brains interpretation of sound waves leaving from somewhere else. Humans can hear sound waves with frequencies between about 20 Hz and 20 kHz. Sound above 20 kHz is ultras

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Physics of Fifa

The game Fifa has a displays many things parallel to physics in reality. In the game, motions of players and the ball as well as wind resistance. When you pass the ball through the air, the game mimics the parabolic path that the ball would take in a real live soccer game. Things such as the wind and the different players striking the ball are all accounted for. If the environment in the game is one of higher winds then different outcomes will occur when a ball travels through the air. Also in t

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Physics pf basketball

Many concepts of physics are at play in the game of basketball. Many of the concepts in physics separate potential great NBA players,such as myself, and local bums that can barely dribble, Jeremy. First of all my innate ability to produce a force in the y-direction enables me to create an acceleration and elevate to a level much higher than Jeremy. This skill allows me to get rebounds over Jeremy as well as finish difficult shots on Jeremy without getting blocked. also the concept of energy in p

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Physics of GTA V

In many video games there is physics systems and rules and boundaries created. In the popular Grand Theft Auto V, there is a physics system in place that is made to resemble and imitate the same physics rules that w know in reality and on planet earth however there are many short comings in this game that are very apparent. First off, there are certain objects that have literally infinite inertia. For example tree cannot be moved in any direction to the slightest degree. You could run the larges

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Physics of Track Spikes

If you ever see a track athlete wearing special shoes for the track and wondered if their is an actual purpose of them, their is. On a track while you run, no force is acting directly on one another. While you run, the force of static friction holds your foot has you push yourself forward. The reason for track athletes to wear these special shoes is to increase to value of static friction between the track and their foot. When running at very fast speeds, as track athletes tend to do, any energy

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Physics of the Long Jump

One of the most well known track and field events is the long jump. This event is where an athlete sprints as fast as they can toward a line then jump into a sand pit. Several simple kinematic concepts are displayed in this event. Firstly the distance traveled by an object is proportional to the velocity of an object. This translates to the long jump in that the faster the person is moving as they approach the point where they have to jump, the farther they will travel. Also the length of the ju

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Physics of Zlatan

In soccer the power of your shot can be the difference between a very good goal and a shot the goal keeper having no problem with the shot. But what goes into creating a more powerful shot? What determines this is the amount of torque one can create when you move your leg in the cyclical movement when striking a soccer ball. In the equation,  T = F * r , you are clearly able to see that the amount of torque created by your shot is determined by the length of your leg that you are pivoting around

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Physics of Fluid Dynamics

Fluid dynamics is the study of how liquids behave while they are in motion. The study of this can become very complicated for many reasons. Fluids can be have steadily or with turbulence. In steady flow, the fluid passing a given point maintains a steady velocity. For turbulent flow, the speed and or the direction of the flow varies. In steady flow, the motion can be represented with streamlines showing the direction the water flows in different areas. The density of the streamlines are directly

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Physics of Hurdling

When jumping over a hurdle in a race, many factors determine the faster runner. Obviously, taller people have an easier time with this but what is the reason for this? When a shorter person has to jump over a hurdle and literally jump to clear the hurdle a large time is spent in the air. This is wasted time that taller folks don't necessarily have worry about. When a person with longer legs clears a hurdle, they don;t actually jump. They merely open up their legs to clear the hurdle while their

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Physics of why Jake can squat more than me but isn't stronger than me.

Lifting weights heavily depend on the type of person lifting. When a person squats, part of the motion forms a circle. The longer your legs are the larger the radius of this circle will be formed. When Jake DeMersman squats with his short stubby legs, he doesn't have to produce as much force as a longer legged person like myself. torque is proportional to the radius of the circle. Therefor when Jake squats, less torque is pulling up on him when he pushes back up on a squat. Also in terms of pote

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Physics of center of mass

You have seen an object resting on another object in a way that doesn't seem to entirely make sense based upon what your used to seeing and you basic knowledge of how things should act. Generally this is to do with the center of mass being somewhere unexpected. When several objects are attached, they balance on their center of mass. In the image below, it doesn't seem to entirely make sense without an understanding of canter of mass. Although this doesn't seem like it, the center of mass of this

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Physic of Catching a Football

Catching a football like pros is no easy task, especially when you have some of the hardest throwing quarterbacks in the world. A football of an NFL quarterback can be close to 60 mph(26m/s) , weighing roughly .4kg. This creates a momentum of roughly 10 kg times meters per second. this number may not seem large until it is coming toward you with 11 defenders making sure you don't catch that ball. In order to stop that ball you must apply just as great of a force back at the ball while squeezing

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Physics of Kicking a Soccer Ball

When you kick a soccer ball your leg puts kinetic energy in the ball. Also when you kick a soccer ball the ball deforms for an instant. The energy going into the collision is the energy of your foot plus some stored energy in the ball. The energy coming out of is the movement of the ball plus some minuscule heat energy. Due to the deformity in the ball as well as the conservation of energy, the ball actually travels faster than your foot. it is commonly thought in the world of soccer that are ta

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Physics of Throwing a Football

if you watch most all NFL quarterbacks, they have a tight spiral on the ball. What is the reason for this? You might think that the motion of a football is a simple motion buy it is defiantly not. When you throw a football, if you throw it well, it will have somewhere between 400-600 RPM's. This spin creates a gyroscopic torque on the ball. The benefit of this spiral has to do with angular momentum and the atmosphere of the earth. If we played football on the moon you wouldn't ever see any perso

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Physics of lighting

Lightning, just like everything, can be explored with a physics explanation. Lighting is primarily cased by the electrostatic build up in clouds. Its turns out that the bottom of the cloud ends up becoming negatively charged when lighting occurs. The explanation of why this occur is still somewhat unknown to modern science. Once the bottom of the cloud becomes very negatively charged, electrons seek the nearest positively charged object. This ends up being the ground. The electrons of the bottom

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Physics of Shot Put

The ancient practice of testing who can throw something the furthest still exists today. We know it today as the Olympic event of the shot put. Though some may think that the distance someone can throw a shot put is only determined by strength, this is not the case, much skill goes into this event. Firstly the throwers gain rotational kinetic energy before the throw by spinning around as they approach their throw. Rotational kinetic energy is defined by an equation such that rotational kinetic e

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Momentum in Football

Almost everyone has watched at least some NFL football, but not everybody understands what makes some players better than others, or why certain types of players are put in certain areas of the football field. Turns out football in many ways football is a game that heavily involves momentum. Momentum is defined by the simple equation: P=mv. There is a direct relationship between momentum and velocity as well as a direct relationship between momentum and mass. In most cases the most massive playe

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