Monday, November 29, 2010

Blog #6

I was watching the San Diego Chargers and Indianapolis Colts football game on TV this past Sunday, and I saw how our recent topic of momentum related to the game. The Colts were getting destroyed by the Chargers on both sides of the ball, but the performance of Chargers running-back, Mike Tolbert, reminded me of the topic of momentum. Tolbert is a hefty man at 5' 9", 243 pounds; therefore his mass is great. Although Tolbert cannot reach a great velocity, he still reaches a velocity that, when combined with his mass, gives him a very high momentum in comparison to the Colts defensive players. Because Tolbert's momentum was much greater than that of the Colts' defensive players' momentum, Tolbert was able to run into the tacklers, have them grab onto him, and still be able to continue forward, therefore gaining more yardage. Tolbert sometimes ran through tacklers, bouncing them off of him and knocking them to the ground while keeping a forward momentum. These two examples are examples of sticky and bouncy collisions, but Tolbert's momentum was always greater that that of the Colts' defensive players an he was able to continue moving even after colliding with the defense in one of these ways, dominating the Colts' terrible defense.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Blog 5

Again, I recently realized that football implements another aspect of physics.  When I was on the kickoff team I would run down the field, once the ball was kicked, as fast as I could trying to tackle the ball carrier.  While I was accelerating, my kinetic energy increased until I reached my maximum velocity.  Then, running full speed, I would hit the ball carrier, who also had his own kinetic energy in the opposite direction as my own.  Of course, because of my muscular body, I had a greater mass than the ball carrier and I also had a higher velocity because I had more time to accelerate.  Therefore, my kinectic energy was greater than the ball carrier's kinetic energy.  Because my kinetic energy was greater than the ball carrier' when I tackled him, I stopped him and pounded him to the ground because his kinetic energy could not completely resist my own.