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How is playing basketball scientific
The Science of Basketball | Infographics
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With the NBA playoffs underway, basketball is a popular topic these days. Not to mention that with summer around the corner, kids everywhere will be running out to the courts to shoot hoops with friends.
Initially, basketball seems so simple with just a ball and net, but there is actually a lot of science involved in the sport. Players can engage their muscles, cardio-vascular systems, hand-eye coordination, and agility. And there are scientific principles involved in every play. Trajectory, force, gravity, energy, motion, air pressure, percentage all interplay to make a successful game. Consider this…despite what most people might think, aiming for the center of the basket actually decreases the likelihood of a successful shot!
I love all things science and am passionate about bringing science to the public through writing. With an M.S. in Genetics and experience in cancer research, marketing and technical writing, it is a pleasure to share the latest trends and findings in science on LabRoots.
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The Science of Basketball
Pass, dribble and shoot! It is time for March Mania basketball – one of the most famous annual sporting events in the US. Whether you are watching college teams on TV or playing in the backyard, basketball is fun because of Science! I betcha’ didn’t know there was science involved in the sport of basketball!
Bouncing the ball on the ground, passing to your teammate, and shooting at the goal all depend on physics, math and the laws of motion.
Origins of Basketball
By Evdcoldeportes via Wikimedia Commons
Basketball is considered the first sport that completely originated in the United States. It was invented in December of 1891 when Dr. James Naismith nailed up some peach baskets in a gym. Basketballs today are designed to bounce around the court and soar in an orange arc from your hands into the basket. But were they always like this? Why do they have those bumps on them?
When the sport was first invented soccer balls were used and players had a harder time holding on to and dribbling the ball than they did shooting a basket. The orange, bumpy ball we know today was developed as a result of problems players were having trying to play this brand new game.
Changes they made to the ball included making them bigger and adding bumps to the leather surface. This added bounce and friction to the equation. Modern basketballs are hollow with an inflatable inner rubber bladder and have a small opening that lets you control the air pressure. This hollow center is generally wrapped in layers of fiber and finally covered with leather, which is usually bright orange so players can easily see them. They took a problem – slippery, not so bouncy ball – and engineered a solution!
Basketballs bounce because of the pressurized air inside of them, gravity and Newton’s Laws of Motion.
When you dribble a basketball, your hand and gravity both push the ball towards the ground (Law #1). As it drops, the ball accelerates and speeds up (Law #2). It wants to stay in motion so the ball pushes into the ground when it hits, compressing the air inside. The ground pushes up with an equal, but opposite amount of force resulting in the ball bouncing back up in to your hand (Law #3). The energy in the compressed air is transferred back to the ball pushing it back into motion. If you were to take your hand away and stop dribbling, the ball would continue to bounce due to Newton’s first law, but would slow down and eventually stop due to friction.
The more air pressure inside, the harder it will push on the sides of the ball and the more bounce you’ll get. This is why an under inflated ball won’t bounce very well because there is not enough air pressure inside to maintain the forces necessary for bounce.
Why the bumps?
Image Source: Pixabay. com
So the last detail they added to their new ball was little bumps on the surface of the leather called pebbling. Adding these bumps was all about friction. When forces collide, friction naturally slows things down over time and the more points of contact an object has with another surface the more friction comes into play. So the bumps on the basketball basically increase the surface area of the ball and the amount of friction acting on it. This makes the pebbled ball ideal for a player to grip, pass quickly, and dribble without fear that the ball will slip away in a random direction.
Next time you shoot some hoops, observe all the features of the basketball that make it special. It’s a great example of engineering and American innovation in action!
Try this fun, at-home STEM basketball activity: http://sciencemadefunwnc.net/downloads/basketball_STEM.pdf
Author Science Made Fun!Posted on Categories E-News HTHTTags basketball, bounce, friction, march, motion, newton's laws, science of basketball, STEM
Throws in terms of science | Playing technique
The height of the trajectory for different types of throws has long been the subject of lively discussions. The use of some concepts of trigonometry and dynamics helps to get an answer to this question.
If the player had one hundred percent accuracy, then the height of the trajectory during the throw would be determined by the need to send the ball so that it passes the defender's raised hands and does not touch the near edge of the ring. The closer the defender was to the ball carrier, the higher the trajectory required for the ball to be thrown. In this case, the height of the trajectory would be inversely proportional to the distance between the defender and the ball carrier.
Since players with 100% shooting accuracy are rare (if ever), some calculations are needed to solve the problem. The diameter of the basket is 45 cm. If the ball descends into the basket strictly from above in the center, the area of \u200b\u200bthe basket and its diameter are at right angles to the line of flight ball. If the ball is thrown at an angle of 60° to the plane of the basket, then only 0. 8661 of its diameter is projected at right angles to the line of flight of the ball. If the throw is at a 45° angle, the target is 0.7071 of the basket diameter. And finally, when thrown at an angle of 30 °, the affected area is reduced to 0.5 of the diameter of the basket. Thus, if the angle of departure decreases, then the chances of the ball hitting the basket also decrease. Therefore, the smaller the ball departure angle, the greater should be the accuracy of calculating the forces in the direction of its flight. All this testifies to the advantage of a high trajectory.
On the other hand, with a higher trajectory, the ball travels a longer distance towards the basket. Therefore, if a player makes an error in calculating the forces applied to the ball, then this error will increase in proportion to the path traveled by the ball. The most acceptable is the angle of release of the ball during the throw equal to 58 ° to the horizontal. At this angle of release, players achieve the greatest performance.
The ball is usually thrown with reverse spin, which allows it to be kept on a given trajectory and to achieve a softer bounce in case of a bad throw. In addition, backspin slows down the speed of the ball, and when it hits the hoop, there is a greater chance that it will go into the basket instead of out.
The speed with which the ball rebounds from the ring depends on the coefficient of elasticity of the ball, its mass and its speed of flight. Except for the flight speed, all other quantities are constant. It follows from this that in order to prevent a quick rebound, the ball should be thrown as softly as possible, giving it a minimum speed.
From the point of view of dynamics, all throws are best performed with a rebound from the backboard. Observations show that most shots are inaccurate due to the undershoot of the ball to the basket. Perhaps the reason for this is that many players choose the front of the ring as their aiming point. And when the players get tired, the ball begins to miss the basket. If the player shoots with a rebound from the backboard, then when undershot, the ball will simply fall into the basket, and with a normal throw with reverse rotation, it will fall into it after being reflected from the backboard.
Throwing reliability comes with specific muscle sensations, and these are formed during training. Throws with your eyes closed, in particular, will help test the level of muscle sensation. Throwing movements need to be trained to such an extent that they become automatic.
Currently, there are ove ...
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But were they always like this? Why do they have those bumps on them?
com
The use of some concepts of trigonometry and dynamics helps to get an answer to this question. 
8661 of its diameter is projected at right angles to the line of flight of the ball. If the throw is at a 45° angle, the target is 0.7071 of the basket diameter. And finally, when thrown at an angle of 30 °, the affected area is reduced to 0.5 of the diameter of the basket. Thus, if the angle of departure decreases, then the chances of the ball hitting the basket also decrease. Therefore, the smaller the ball departure angle, the greater should be the accuracy of calculating the forces in the direction of its flight. All this testifies to the advantage of a high trajectory. 
If the player shoots with a rebound from the backboard, then when undershot, the ball will simply fall into the basket, and with a normal throw with reverse rotation, it will fall into it after being reflected from the backboard. 
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