These past few weeks we were asked to make video breaking down the physics of a sport to help San Marin athletes. We chose a three point shot in basketball. These weeks where some of the more challenging in STEM mostly because our group did not work well together, but we did not let that slow us down, we still ended up finishing our project and it turned up in good shape.
The three pointer, we all know its hard, so how do the pros make it look so easy? Well it all comes down to the physics.
Here is our team mate Ty Cubley shooting a three pointer. Let’s take a closer look at his form.
The hoop is exactly 10 feet high or 3.04 meters, which is the 1.15 michael Jordans. Ty takes his shot from the three point line which is 23.75 feet from the hoop or 7.23 meters. The mass of the ball is 0.625 kilograms which later plays into our velocity and force of the ball.
Now let' talk about his arms. he starts out with his arms holding the ball at his sholder level he then brings his arms up above his head with slightly bent elbows. He uses his non dominant hand to hold the ball steady while he uses his dominant hand to apply force to the ball. He flicks his wrist causing the ball to spin with a backward force and go sailing into the hoop.
Next we have the velocity of the ball. Since the ball’s path is a curve we have to find three velocities. Total, horizontal, and vertical. Our horizontal velocity was 2.62 m/s. Our vertical velocity is 16.6 m/s. We then used a2 + b2= c2 to find our answer to the total velocity, which was 16.8 m/s.
The last element of our physics that we found was the force of impact, which was 262.5 newtons. That’s equal to the weight of 39 full grown st Bernard's.
In conclusion we had some difficulties working together but we ended up getting the job done. We all had different strength which made this easier because everyone new how to do something that needed to be done. The beginning was easiest but then we lost our flow in the middle. We started not functioning as a group but then we stepped it up. We started getting distracted with other groups but at the end we finished the project.
The three pointer, we all know its hard, so how do the pros make it look so easy? Well it all comes down to the physics.
Here is our team mate Ty Cubley shooting a three pointer. Let’s take a closer look at his form.
The hoop is exactly 10 feet high or 3.04 meters, which is the 1.15 michael Jordans. Ty takes his shot from the three point line which is 23.75 feet from the hoop or 7.23 meters. The mass of the ball is 0.625 kilograms which later plays into our velocity and force of the ball.
Now let' talk about his arms. he starts out with his arms holding the ball at his sholder level he then brings his arms up above his head with slightly bent elbows. He uses his non dominant hand to hold the ball steady while he uses his dominant hand to apply force to the ball. He flicks his wrist causing the ball to spin with a backward force and go sailing into the hoop.
Next we have the velocity of the ball. Since the ball’s path is a curve we have to find three velocities. Total, horizontal, and vertical. Our horizontal velocity was 2.62 m/s. Our vertical velocity is 16.6 m/s. We then used a2 + b2= c2 to find our answer to the total velocity, which was 16.8 m/s.
The last element of our physics that we found was the force of impact, which was 262.5 newtons. That’s equal to the weight of 39 full grown st Bernard's.
In conclusion we had some difficulties working together but we ended up getting the job done. We all had different strength which made this easier because everyone new how to do something that needed to be done. The beginning was easiest but then we lost our flow in the middle. We started not functioning as a group but then we stepped it up. We started getting distracted with other groups but at the end we finished the project.