DeepSummary
Tim Gay, an experimental atomic physicist, had a passion for football and wondered about the physics behind the tight spiral passes in the game. Nobel laureate Bill Phillips asked Tim a question about why the football tilts down from pointing up when thrown to the receiver's hands, which Tim couldn't answer at first.
After years of research and collaboration with other physicists, Tim realized that in addition to the ball's tight spiral motion and air drag, there was a second gyroscopic precession motion causing the tilt. As the ball travels through the air, the flowing air rather than gravity defines the 'vertical' line about which the football processes.
With theoretical calculations and computer simulations matching his idea of gyroscopic precession, Tim and his colleagues were finally able to explain the physics behind the spiral pass after 20 years of investigating the mystery.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- A football's tight spiral pass appears to defy physics by tilting downward despite being thrown in an upward trajectory.
- Air resistance and drag play a major role in the flight dynamics of a thrown football.
- In addition to spin and air drag, gyroscopic precession caused by airflow around the ball leads to its downward tilt.
- Gravity is not the force defining the 'vertical' axis when a football is airborne - the airflow around it is.
- Solving the physics behind the spiral pass took over 20 years of investigation and collaboration between physicists.
- Studying something as simple as a thrown football can reveal deep scientific complexities.
- Newton's laws of motion govern everything observed in a football game.
- An object's acceleration is determined by its mass and the force applied, per Newton's second law.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “On occasion. For example, in a kickoff, the ball will actually rise. If you were kicking a football in vacuum, it would simply be a parabolic arc. But with air, again, you get interesting effects like lift. The ball can actually curve up instead of curving down for a brief moment as the aerodynamic forces push it up.“ by Tim Gay
- “I have no idea.“ by Tim Gay
- “We spent the next three years yelling at each other over Zoom about the problem.“ by Tim Gay
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Episode Information
Short Wave
NPR
2/7/24
But those passes? They seem to defy fundamental physics. And for a long time, scientists couldn't figure out exactly why — until experimental atomic physicist Tim Gay cracked the case just a few years ago. His answer comes after two decades of hobby research and more than a couple late night shouting matches with two other physicists over Zoom.
Today on Short Wave, host Regina G. Barber talks to Tim about this football mystery — and the physics behind the game.
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