Physics Extended Essay

Physics Extended Essay - Page 2

LosingID8

CA10831 Posts

April 01 2010 01:18 GMT

#21

On April 01 2010 09:43 WoWz3rZ wrote:
So...I am totally about to mooch off of your post, because its amazing how many people have ideas for your EE topic, and mine is physics/sports related to.

Soooo
For mine I am posing the question of "Which is more efficent in basketball freethrows, a underhand (granny) shot, or a regular overhead shot"

I know I am going to do an experiment like yours with the camcorder and stuff, but i have no clue on how to go about doing calculations or anything.

Does anyone have ideas?

what is your definition of efficient?

starfries

Canada3508 Posts

April 01 2010 06:00 GMT

#22

actually I think mass would make you a better tackler. let me explain.

a higher mass helps you stay upright. for most tackles both people go down, but keeping your balance depends more on your delta v than your delta p. if you have a 100 pound person going from 4 m/s to 0 or a 200 pound person going from 2 m/s to 0, the first guy is going to have a harder time staying standing simply because it's harder to get your legs in the right position if you're moving faster. also, in an inelastic collision the two bodies end up moving with the center of mass of the system; if you're bigger the system center of mass is going to be closer to your center of mass so you suffer less of a velocity change. i don't know about rugby, but in football it is advantageous to push the guy back if you can as well as taking him down, and it's a lot easier if you're bigger and still standing (plus as a bigger person you are probably stronger)

secondly KE is dissipated in an inelastic collision, and it has to go somewhere - heat and sound, but it is also dissipated into your body through vibrations and such. this means if you're a light, fast tackler, every time you tackle someone you're taking a pretty big beating. yes, some of the energy is dissipated into them, but you don't tackle the same person every time.

also, from a practical perspective, it's harder to increase speed. you can find people who weigh 1.5x as much as you, but there are much less people that can run 1.5x as fast, since all rugby players train to be fast.

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