The Physics of Ballin'
Entry posted by esmith
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During the football unit in gym class last week, I was balling so hard that one might confuse me with a diamond when I noticed witnessed a spectacular catch. A fellow baller, let's call him Duron (as that is his name), leaped up to snag a wayward pass with one hand. Somehow he was able to bring it down with him to much admiration from his classmates. Hating to be shown up, I later attempted a similar catch, but the ball simply bounced off my hand and I was left looking like a fool. I later realized that Duron was able to make the catch by applying the concept of momentum. As we know from last year, change in momentum is equal to F∆t. When Duron went up to make the catch, he moved his arm backward with the ball, so as to allow the change in momentum to occur over a longer time, therefore decreasing the force of the ball on his hand. When I tried to make the catch, my arm was rigid and failed to move in the direction of the ball, so it exerted too great a force on my hand to be caught. If I had only applied my knowledge of physics at the time, I would have been able to show that I was the best baller on the field. Alas, it was instead proved that my constant iteration of the mantra "ball is life" was untrue in my circumstances. Therefore, I will stay in school and not pursue a career on any professional sports team.
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