9781422272954

CHAPTER 1

SCIENCE IN SPORTS

Most of us don’t think about science when playing soccer, basketball, or any other sport, but the result of every kick, shot, and throw can be attributed to physics . It may sound strange to think of an activity many of us find so exhilarating to be rooted in a subject so cut and dried, but it is. By learning about the physical laws of our world, athletes can leverage valuable information to fine-tune their skill sets in their chosen sport, no matter what it is. BEND IT LIKE MAGNUS Whether curving a ball from the pitcher’s mound of a baseball field or bending a corner kick on the pitch of a soccer game, the guiding principle in physics behind the curving action is called the Magnus effect . When a soccer ball is struck off-center with a kick, the ball is launched with a spinning action that causes the speed of airflow

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