Physics of Sports Video
For this project, the task was to replicate and explain the physics of a sport. Our group decided to do water bottle flipping. Although water bottle flipping isn't an actual "sport," it is a very popular trend on campus, and we hoped that learning the physics behind the activity might make us all better, more successful bottle flippers! We made a video in order to better illustrate what we learned. To create our video, we used iMovie.
Concepts
Center of Gravity: The center of gravity is the average location of the weight of an object.
Angular Momentum: Angular momentum is the quantity of rotation of a body, which is the product of its moment of inertia and its angular velocity. Water bottle flipping uses angular momentum.
Force: Force is the strength or energy put into something. The equation for force is F=ma or Force = mass x acceleration. We determined the ideal force to exert during water bottle flipping to be about 19 newtons or roughly 4 pounds.
Force of Impact: Force of impact is the force generated when objects meet.
Acceleration: Acceleration is a change in speed. The equation for acceleration is a=v/t or acceleration = velocity/time. In our video example, the water bottle accelerated at 9.8 m/s (meters per second) due to gravity.
Vertical Velocity: Vertical velocity is a special type of velocity because it's in the vertical direction, which means it is always affected by acceleration due to gravity. The equation for vertical velocity is v=at or velocity = acceleration x time. The vertical velocity of the water bottle flip in our example is 3.4 m/s (meters per second) or 7.6 m/hr (meters per hour).
Horizontal Velocity: Horizontal velocity is the rate at which an object is traveling parallel to the earth. Scientists calculate horizontal velocity using the formula v = d/t or velocity = distance/time. In water bottle flipping, the person flipping the bottle should try to decrease the amount of horizontal velocity to as little as possible, as none would be most ideal. However, it's nearly impossible to cancel horizontal velocity completely. In our case, the bottle moved horizontally about 12 cm (centimeters) or .12 m (meters).
Angular Momentum: Angular momentum is the quantity of rotation of a body, which is the product of its moment of inertia and its angular velocity. Water bottle flipping uses angular momentum.
Force: Force is the strength or energy put into something. The equation for force is F=ma or Force = mass x acceleration. We determined the ideal force to exert during water bottle flipping to be about 19 newtons or roughly 4 pounds.
Force of Impact: Force of impact is the force generated when objects meet.
Acceleration: Acceleration is a change in speed. The equation for acceleration is a=v/t or acceleration = velocity/time. In our video example, the water bottle accelerated at 9.8 m/s (meters per second) due to gravity.
Vertical Velocity: Vertical velocity is a special type of velocity because it's in the vertical direction, which means it is always affected by acceleration due to gravity. The equation for vertical velocity is v=at or velocity = acceleration x time. The vertical velocity of the water bottle flip in our example is 3.4 m/s (meters per second) or 7.6 m/hr (meters per hour).
Horizontal Velocity: Horizontal velocity is the rate at which an object is traveling parallel to the earth. Scientists calculate horizontal velocity using the formula v = d/t or velocity = distance/time. In water bottle flipping, the person flipping the bottle should try to decrease the amount of horizontal velocity to as little as possible, as none would be most ideal. However, it's nearly impossible to cancel horizontal velocity completely. In our case, the bottle moved horizontally about 12 cm (centimeters) or .12 m (meters).
Reflection
Over the course of this project, I enjoyed combining a "sport" and academics with making a fun film. Our group worked together very nicely. We all got along very well--so well, in fact, that it was hard to stay on task. In future I will try harder to focus and stay on topic to make the most effective use of our time together. Also, although we were able to use my iphone to record voiceovers, we struggled with editing during class because none of our school computers had iMovie. Luckily, a member in our group had a Mac at her house that she could edit on after hours. This meant one person was doing more work than the rest of us, which was unfortunate. Overall, we had a fun time making the film, but we could work on having a more organized plan and staying on task.