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Most people dont realize that there is science through playing a sport. Watching or playing volleyball is a great way to grasp the principles of physics. Understanding physics can be tricky if you just look at the mind boggling equations and such, but by connecting physics to other things, such as volleyball, physics can help you learn in an easier way. Gravity Gravitational force impacts every aspect of volleyball; whether you are serving, passing, or hitting. Gravity will effect every contact with the volleyball. When some one is going to serve, the server uses upward and forward force on the volleyball, while gravity is using a downward force. Because of the downward force of gravity, the volleyball will make it over the net onto the other side. There are different types of serves that can make it harder for the opponent to pass it on the other side. One type of serve is called the jump-float. This particular type of serve has no spin to it, when the player contacts the ball they try to hit the ball with the plam of thier hand without snapping their wrist. When people are performing the jump float serve, they stand back a couple of feet. This is because, the player wants to ensure that the volleyball is cutting through as much air as possible. The longer the volleyball is in the air the more the volleyball is exposed to the air stream. The jump float serve is very similar to a knuckle ball in baseball; it is very hard to time. When being served by a server using the jump float, it seems like the ball is actually floatng in the air. Another type of serve is called the top spin. Top spin serves is quicker than the jump float. When performing a top spin serve the player snaps their wrist, which causes the force on the ball to accelerate quicker to the ground. A top spin serve brings the ball down because the seems on the volleyball are rolling forward.This causes the air velocity to be faster on the top of the ball rather than on the bottom of the ball; this pushes the ball into a downward motion. When a passer is passing a ball an upward and forward force is exerted on to the ball while gravity is pushing the ball down. To ensure that the volleyball will meet at the target spot, the passer will have to follow through with their arms in the direction of the target. When a volleyball player goes up to hit or spike the ball, they try to use as much force as they can so they can get a kill and grant their team a point. When spiking the volleyball the player exerts a downward force on the ball, crushing it to the other side of the net. When spiking the ball, gravity is now working in the players favor. Players dont have to hit the ball as hard because gravitational force is acting on the ball in the same downward direction. Acceleration and Velocity As gravity pulls the ball down, the ball is accelerating. When a player is spiking the volleyball to the other side of the net, the balls velocity has increased showing acceleration .Throughout the game of volleyball, the ball is constantly accelerating and decelerating as well as the player is; this all depends on the forces that the players put on the ball and how quick or low the player moves to get to the ball. A player on one side could pass an easy free ball to the other side, when very quickly a player on the opposing side can spike the ball back with a high amount of force; this is showing the balls acceleration. Through volleyball, you can calculate the velocity of the volleyball. To calculate this you would need to use an equation. In this case, you could use the equation v=d/t. This stands for velocity equals distance divided by time. For example, if the server was behind the service line 25 feet away from the net ad it took 2 seconds for the ball to pass the net to the other side, the velocity would be 12.5 feet per second. The higher the velocity is, the harder it is for the passer on the opposing side to deliever a good three option pass, which is a good thing. More Here is a video explaining even more physics on volleyball. Have fun watching this video and thanks for reading! Just remember that physics isnt a tricky thing to learn if you connect it with cool things like sports!

I have a very large interest in bees, so for my first blog post I've decided to research how bees see colors differently compared to humans. Through my research I have discovered that the color spectrum of bees is shifted when compared to the color spectrum of humans. Visible light is part of a larger spectrum of energy. Bees can see ultraviolet – a color humans can only imagine – at the short-wavelength end of the spectrum. So it’s true that bees can see ‘colors’ we can’t. Many flowers have ultraviolet patterns on their petals, so bees can see these patterns. They use them as visual guides – like a map painted on the flower – directing them to the flower’s store of nectar. Some flowers that appear non-descript to us have strong ultraviolet patterns. Being a bee doesn’t necessarily mean you live in a more colorful world. Bees can’t see red – at the longer wavelength end of the spectrum – while humans can. To a bee, red looks black. Humans see light in wavelengths from approximately 390 to 750 nanometers (nm). These wavelengths represent the spectrum of colors we can see. Bees, see from approximately 300 to 650 nm. That means they can’t see the color red, but they can see in the ultraviolet spectrum (which humans cannot). Bees can also easily distinguish between dark and light – making them very good at seeing edges. This helps them identify different shapes, though they can have trouble distinguishing between similar shapes that have smooth lines – such as circles and ovals. Vision is important to bees, because they feed on nectar and pollen – and that means they have to find flowers. Bees can use odor cues to find a perfect flower, but that only works when they’re already pretty close. Vision is essential to help the bees find flowers at a distance. A bees Vision in responce to different colors: Red -> black Yellow -> yellow-green Orange -> yellow-green (darker) Green -> green Blue -> blue plus ultraviolet blue Violet -> blue plus ultra violet Purple -> blue White -> blue green Black -> black In conclusion, bees have a very unique color vision.

As a volleyball player and also a physics student, it’s only natural that I came about the question as to how physics is related to serving and hitting. I knew that in order to jump higher, or to have a harder, faster serve or hit physics must be taking place. I came about these equations that relate to the physics behind this sport: Vf = Vi + at V^2 = Vi^2 = 2ad Finding the acceleration of a volleyball player would allow us to find out the speed of a player whose velocity is increasing or decreasing within a certain amount of time. As well as the player, the ball also has an acceleration. During a serve it is very likely that the ball has a constant acceleration. Throughout the distance of the ball being served, the velocity is constantly increasing thus the velocity is increasing at the same amount for these time intervals. Hitting is not all about contact and force. It also has a lot to do with timing. After the ball is set your brain is assessing the speed and placement of the set thus creating a time frame for your approach. With seeing the distance needed to travel and the velocity at which the ball is traveling, we can calculate the time needed to make this approach. This is found through the equation: V= d/t After doing this research I have concluded the many possibilities that are related between volleyball and physics. We can assess the acceleration of a ball or the timing of a player all through physics!

Even after understanding the physics of it, Im probably still awful at playing it!

Have you ever wondered what other animals see when they can see more electromagnetic waves than we can see? Well I started with this question and found that a common electromagnetic wave that other animals can see is infrared waves. There are three different types of Infrared waves, near, mid and far. In the following You Tube video Imre describes how you can take pictures of near Infrared waves using your camera. Even though it wasn't exactly what I was looking for the pictures give you an idea of what an animal might see and since my brothers are both photographers it reminded me of them. One of the facts that I found fascinating about Infrared Waves was that the far Infrared waves actually represent thermal waves which represent heat. Thermal Heat can be felt as heat from the sun and also can be found in fast food restaurants. Far infrared waves are closest to microwave waves which can explain why they can be felt as heat. Snakes would then use far infrared waves to see since they detect what is around them by the heat sensing organs in their face. Vampire bats can also use infrared waves to sense their warm blooded prey. Bugs use their antennas to detect infrared rays one reason is to detect prey. Beetles on the other hand detect infrared waves in order to find forest fires. After finding a forest fire they lay their eggs in the burnt wood. A different example is why NASA uses infrared waves to take pictures of objects in space. They take pictures of Earth in Infrared to help people study the clouds. For example they can see different layers of clouds with different temperatures. On NASA's website you can see a picture of Earth with darker warmer colored clouds closer to the Ocean and whiter clouds inland and close to the arctic. The colors you see with visible light also are made up infrared light as well. In one of their pictures you see a tree and waves reflecting off the grass one wave is visible light, which is why we can see that the grass is green, and the other is infrared light. When you take a picture of the grass and the trees with an infrared camera or camera lens, you see that the grass is mainly red which means it is either reflecting or giving off the infrared waves hitting it. This would explain why in the video they get better pictures when it's a bright sunny day because with more of the sun's rays exposed to the Earth there is a better chance that the Infrared waves will hit the plants, and reflect off different surfaces. Also some of the infrared waves will make the objects hotter that it is reflecting against also helping the camera to detect the infrared waves. Links to websites used: http://science.hq.nasa.gov/kids/imagers/ems/infrared.html http://www.mapoflife.org/topics/topic_311_Infrared-detection-in-animals/

Very well done! Physics everywhere in volleyball. The video looks like a lot of fun -- we should make our own.

i liked that you connected to physics with a sport! Usually people never think sports relate to science!

Great idea, and very well executed. Goes right along with what we're learning about the electromagnetic spectrum.

great physics in showing how everything has to do with the movement of the ball

You're right, tons of physics in volleyball. As to the referee question, what happens when teams switch sides of the court?