Projectile motion plays an important role in basketball, as it is observed anytime a player attempts a shot. There are two main factors to consider when shooting - the shot itself and the spin on the ball. The two main types of shots are the jump shot and the layup. A jump shot involves mostly vertical movement while a layup relies more on momentum. Spin on the ball is important as it allows the ball to respond better if it hits the rim. Physics principles like momentum and force also apply to passing, with a softer pass resulting from greater time of impact.
Projectile motion plays an important role in basketball, as it is observed anytime a player attempts a shot. There are two main factors to consider when shooting - the shot itself and the spin on the ball. The two main types of shots are the jump shot and the layup. A jump shot involves mostly vertical movement while a layup relies more on momentum. Spin on the ball is important as it allows the ball to respond better if it hits the rim. Physics principles like momentum and force also apply to passing, with a softer pass resulting from greater time of impact.
Projectile motion plays an important role in basketball, as it is observed anytime a player attempts a shot. There are two main factors to consider when shooting - the shot itself and the spin on the ball. The two main types of shots are the jump shot and the layup. A jump shot involves mostly vertical movement while a layup relies more on momentum. Spin on the ball is important as it allows the ball to respond better if it hits the rim. Physics principles like momentum and force also apply to passing, with a softer pass resulting from greater time of impact.
Projectile motion plays an important role in basketball, as it is observed anytime a player attempts a shot. There are two main factors to consider when shooting - the shot itself and the spin on the ball. The two main types of shots are the jump shot and the layup. A jump shot involves mostly vertical movement while a layup relies more on momentum. Spin on the ball is important as it allows the ball to respond better if it hits the rim. Physics principles like momentum and force also apply to passing, with a softer pass resulting from greater time of impact.
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
Download as docx, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1/ 2
Application of Physics in Basket Ball
As we all know, Basketball is indeed a very physical sport. Involvement of
physics in this sport is quite noticeable both by the real players at heart who boast off how they get technical with everything and even those who just seem to enjoy the game from a distance, observing. What we all have to know is that, basically, one gets nowhere in this game without making a shot. The greatly observed phenomenon related to physics in basketball is projectile motion for it is observed every time an individual attempts to score points. What we all need to know first is that there are two main points of emphasis on shooting the basketball (1) the shot itself and (2) the spin on the ball. Boiling down the simplest moves that one must make in order to score points, we characterize shots made by two different types, namely: the jump shot and the layup. For the application of physics in a jump shot, there is little horizontal movement because the jump shot deals more with vertical movement. The ball itself is pushed off of his or her finger tips and the force and angle is applied upon release. In contrast to a jump shot, the layup, however, is a shot based more on momentum. A typical layup is usually executed in a very short range for a player simply lets the ball slide and roll on his fingertips with inclination depending on the players height and gap between the rings. A special type of shot made by players in certain circumstances is what we call a Free Throw. By calling a clear foul, a free throw is given to a player for a chance to make up for the disturbed shot. A free throw is a shot made in the middle of the perimeter of the ring while being stationary. A free throw, just like any other shot, has the best chance of going in the more arc the shot has. When the ball comes straight down it makes the rim seem bigger than when a shot has more of a straight trajectory. Therefore, the most ideal shot would be one that comes nearly straight down into the basket; however, when shooting that type of shot it is nearly impossible to aim. We talk of aim here in terms that the player is restricted to choose an angle which he may seem to find more comfortable. Being forced to take a shot at a straight horizontal line facing the ring, a player must practice straight up trajectory and master the art of his preferred release. Another technique that most players observe when releasing the ball is how to make the ball spin for it to respond right to any errors that may have been made when releasing the ball. The spin on the ball and its significance can be a fairly surprising topic to most people. The spin used on a shot during its time in the air is really irrelevant. The spin really only comes into use when the ball hits either the rim or the backboard. One can never say that air resistance makes such a surprising impact on
ones release. As stated by the famous Kentridge, The effects of air
resistance of the ball are so small because of small velocities, so spin of a shot in air is not useful. What spin is useful for is for a better chance of the ball going in if the ball hits the rim . Obviously, once the ball hits the backboard the velocity of the ball changes. Backspin on the ball will allow the ball to continue in a vertical path allowing the ball to have a greater chance of going in. It is also a given in basketball that one may enjoy playing solitary yet basketball is, in fact, a team sport. We all enjoy basketball when playing in groups because competitiveness comes to play. One makes contact with the other not only by depending on self-skill, but also on relying on his team mate to assist or even get a score. To make teamwork possible, a player must pass the ball onto another player. The idea of catching a pass can be analyzed using the equation m*v = F*t or F= (m*v)/t. In using this idea the greater the time is the lesser the force will be and thus the pass will be a lot easier to catch and not drop. As stated by our source, The idea of catching the perfect pass comes from the laws of motion and energy. If the ball is initially received with the elbows slightly bent the arms should be allowed to absorb the force of the oncoming basketball and the ball should end up being caught close to the chest. This can be more easily explained in physics with the help of a couple simple formulas. It is known that in physics that the mass of an object multiplied by the velocity of the object equals the liner momentum of the object. It is also known that the momentum divided by the time it takes the object to impact is equal to the net force the object will have upon impact. In other words by the player catching the ball with arms extended and slightly bent elbows and allowing their arms to slow down the ball before hitting their chest they are increasing the time it takes the ball to impact.