PHYSICS ON A SOCCER BALLS CURVE

What are the Effects on a Soccer Balls Curve?

Soccer balls or objects similar to it, go back to ancient times to around 200 AD. According

to historical references and legend, early balls ranged from human heads, stitched up cloth,

animal and human skulls to pig or cow bladders. Originally starting in China and other areas,

they used animal skins to form something similar to a ball, the Chinese would call this game

Tsu Chu (Soccerballworld, 2003, pg. 8). This game was similar to soccer because the objective

was to put the object in a net stretched between two poles.

In 1836 a man by the name of Charles Goodyear came up with an idea of creating soccer balls

out of the rubber according to (Epicsports, 2007, p.7). The year 1855 marked a significant event

in the development of the soccer ball. It was in that year that the first vulcanized rubber soccer

ball was made and built the first time and came out with much success.

It wasnt until many years after where synthetic soccer balls were being produced (Epic Sports,

Inc. 2006, pg. 9).In fact it became the model from which we still use today. These balls have 12

pentagonal pieces that are fitted and stitched together to form a sphere. The black spots on the

soccer balls are meant for helping players learn on how to curve a soccer ball and track its

swerve.

The relationship between the spin and trajectory of the soccer ball depends on how you kick

the ball. When a ball is kicked straight on with the instep of your foot, it travels straight. If you

kick the ball with the toe of your shoe at an angle, the ball can curve in flight from the applied

force. The applied force causes the ball to spin. But what causes the ball to move in certain

movements depending on how you kick it?

PHYSICS ON A SOCCER BALLS CURVE

The main idea of this paper is on the physics of a soccer balls curve. Curving a soccer ball,

also known as bending is caused by aero dynamic forces on the ball. When you kick a soccer

ball, the balls movement depends on the way your foot hits the ball and the amount of power you

use on it. In this case, Newtons second law is being used because we are working with mass,

acceleration, and the motion of force (R D Mehta 1985 Aerodynamics of sports balls Ann. Rev.

Fluid Mech. 17 151-189).

PHYSICS ON A SOCCER BALLS CURVE

References

R D Mehta 1985 Aerodynamics of sports balls Ann. Rev. Fluid Mech. 17 151-189

Soccerepicsports. (2007) Soccer Ball History, 7

Soccerballworld (2006) History of Soccer Balls, 8-9

Soccerballworld (2006) Physics of a Soccer Balls curve, 7

Nasa.gov (2012) Physics on Curves of Balls, airplane, 12