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The Physics of Football
Posted by
Soulskill
on Sun Feb 03, 2008 11:23 AM
from the mass-times-acceleration-equals-pain dept.
from the mass-times-acceleration-equals-pain dept.
Ponca City, We Love You writes "There will be a program on applied physics and real time strategy that you might want to watch on television today. Conservation of momentum during elastic and inelastic collisions is one aspect on which to focus as players tackle their opponents. It is of critical importance that the Patriots bring down New York's huge and powerful running back, 6-foot-4, 265-pound Brandon Jacobs. An average-size NFL defensive back's mass combined with his speed — on average, 4.56 seconds for the 40-yard dash — can produce up to 1600 pounds of tackling force. A tackle with half a ton of force may sound like a crippling blow, but the body can handle twice that amount because the player's equipment spreads out the incoming energy, lessening its severity."
Nanotech specialists from Cornell have developed their own take on the "physics" of the Super Bowl by creating the world's smallest trophy, which will be awarded today to a contestant who best explains an aspect of football physics. Just some food for thought while you watch the game on your brand new HD television, though you'd better not be watching it in a church.
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Your Rights Online: Thou Shalt Not View The Super Bowl on a 56" Screen 680 comments
theodp writes "For 200 members of the Immanuel Bible Church and their friends, the annual Super Bowl party is over thanks to the NFL, which explained that airing NFL games at churches on large-screen TV sets violates the NFL copyright. Federal copyright law includes an exemption for sports bars, according to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, but churches are out of luck. Churchgoers who aren't averse to a little drinking-and-driving still have the opportunity to see the game together in public on a screen bigger than 55 inches."
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Go Giants! (Score:2, Funny)
For those who are interested.. (Score:5, Informative)
Wrong title (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Wrong title (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
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While it is pretty cut-and-dry for British-vs-American English, the distinction is not always non-controversial. Usually there are political motivations for clouding the distinction, e.g. various "dialects" of Chinese that are mutually unintelligible, or the various Scandinavian "languages" that are to different degrees mutually intelligible (I could go on). S
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Re:Wrong title (Score:5, Funny)
If this [antiqueathlete.com] is what your foot looks like, sir, then I suggest you seek the help of a professional foot doctor. Your egg-feet will scare the children.
Parent
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Re:Wrong title (Score:5, Informative)
Slashdot seems to be very U.S.-centric. Do you have any plans to be more international in your scope?
Slashdot is U.S.-centric. We readily admit this, and really don't see it as a problem. Slashdot is run by Americans, after all, and the vast majority of our readership is in the U.S. We're certainly not opposed to doing more international stories, but we don't have any formal plans for making that happen. All we can really tell you is that if you're outside the U.S. and you have news, submit it, and if it looks interesting, we'll post it.
Parent
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Thanks for stopping by to share this insightful commentary.
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Re:Wrong title (Score:5, Informative)
Feel free. Though I should point out that Soccer is a contraction of Association Football, there's a good article here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_(soccer)#History_and_development [wikipedia.org], and predates American Football by some time - the first rules being codified in the 1850s. The less charitable among us followers of more robust codes tend to call it Wendyball or poofball, mainly because of all the falling over, rolling about and crying that goes on.
Then there's Rugby Union (football), which dates from around the same time, and the bastard child Rugby League, aka the thickhead crashball game. Not to mention a whole host of other games including a number of forms played in Ireland (Gaelic) which have been played for close to 700 years.
Compared to all of these games, American Football can be considered something of a johny-come-lately.
So call it Football if you want, but the rest of the world differentiates different styles of football even if you're not aware of their existence.
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I find it amusing that the rest of the world sucks up as much American culture as possible, from our music,
In my CD stacker: Coldplay, Dire Straits, Bjork, REM, Midnight Oil, Crowded House. I think maybe REM is American.
movies
Curious thing. I checked my DVD collection. Maybe 1/3 American. 1/3 not. 1/3 a mix of American and others. Much of what is ostensibly American, turns out to be a mix of a number of cultural influences and participation.
and television shows
Couldn't really get a representat
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Bloody marvellous, it was!
Watch Sport Science (Score:3, Interesting)
The MMA one is a really interesting one when you have Bas Rutten making the scientest jaws drop with the amount of pressure they hit a target. One hit I remember broke the 1000lbs of force and they were telling these guys that they are throwing concussion hits.
Good episodes like...
Human Flight: Who Are The Highest Flyers in Sports?
Sudden Impact: Who Hits the Hardest in Sports?
Reaction Time: Who Reacts the Fastest in Sports?
Cheap Shots: What does a Cheap Shot feel like in Sports?
Out of Control: Elements of the Game you can't Control
Rugby... (Score:4, Funny)
So no chance then.
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I tire of people assuming because the players are wearing pads, it's kids play. Scrum? Try getting a 1-yard head start and see what the impact difference is like. If that doesn't convince you,
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We've been metric since before I was born, I'm 31. I'll let you off though as no-one over here seems to have noticed either.
So it's 135-160 Kg, thanks.
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Apparently theres a game on today (Score:2, Insightful)
More physics (Score:5, Funny)
Behind the Scenes Equipment Testing (Score:3, Interesting)
Cost of research,less than $50 U.S. Scienterrific,huh?
Arguments about words asside, why is it on Sunday? (Score:2)
Heck, after England's second half performance against Wales, I needed something to cheer me up. Superbowl would have been perfect.
Re:Arguments about words asside, why is it on Sund (Score:2)
I think it's just done on Sunday because Sunday is traditionally pro football day.
Re:Arguments about words asside, why is it on Sund (Score:2)
It's Jonah Lomu, all over again (Score:3)
Re:Slow news day (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Fast downloads (Score:2)
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The Patriots had broken a rule that had recently been explicitly laid out by the league. (See article [nydailynews.com]).
Pats fan here. Yes, the Patriots broke the rules and were punished for it, but let's put this into perspective:
The Pats got in trouble for #3, not #1 & 2.
Of course #3 apparently contradicts league guidance on shooting from end zone positions [boston.com] ("but there are no restrictions on shoot
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Also, did you know that Hitler is a Cowboys fan [youtube.com]?
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Padding allows the players to do more than their Rugby counterparts. I've heard this argument a thousand times, but the truth is that if the players have padding, they will play harder to compensate. If you give your rugby players padding, will they play the same way or will they play harder? It's a different focus on playing. American football and Rugby are different sports, even if they are closely related.
In addition, American Football is more about the strategy in movin
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Player injuries are also reduced from 157.7 to 16 injuries per 1000h played. On the upside, you're a
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I used to play Union, love watching both codes, but will be watching the game tonight and rooting for the Giants (New Englanders are so snooty :P).
It's different to rugby, but some of us in the UK can appreciate the planning and skill of the game - same as we enjoy baseball but play cricket (there was a thriving baseball leagu
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They're not critical. (Score:2)
1) American Football is misnamed.
2) It's a wussy game (woo rugby)
3) It's for retards.
4) Too many breaks
5) Companies spend a lot of money on marketing THEY ARE EVIL HURRRR
I'm not going to address these comments because they are loaded or strawmen and others have done it better than me. I think it's great. It's a lot of fun to watch and talk about, and I hope the Giants win today. The rest of you haters can go back to whatever the hell you were doing.
O
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His point was that rugby fans call football rugby for pussies, but rugby players who actually attempt to play football are quickly relegated to being backups or put at positions that demand very little skill because they're unfit to play the rest. No one said that the only rugby players that play football are pussies, just that rugby players lack the skill, size, or spee
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As to the parents point about rugby players making only mediocre American Football players; like duh ! What do you expect they've spent most of their lives playing a totally different code of sport of course they're not going to be as skilled in some of the more specialist positions than players who have spent all their lives simply training for that position. Having said that they do seem to be more successful than the America