Physics of Sports Video
In this project my group consisting of Zoe Petty, Anja Damazyn, and Marslina McCahey, and myself created a video describing the force it takes to kick a soccer ball a certain distance. The video also contains interviews of real San Marin soccer players and the frame by frame steps of how we solved for the velocity of the ball in the air when given a certain force. Lots of work went into this video, we used IMovie on my IPad, and since no one knew how to use it well, editing took a little bit of getting used too. Though thankfully the app is very easy to get the hang of.
On the first day we were assigned to our group and tasked to give insight on the best way to complete a motion for a certain sport. My group chose to get closer into the physics of a soccer kick (or a goalie kick). For the next work day our group planned out how we were going to film and what, and by the next day we were ready to film. We had decided to use my IPad because it had a nice camera and IMovie was a very easy to install app. During the next days we filmed and input the clips into the IMovie app and began organizing. Once the filming was done we needed to edit some parts of the video so that they would be in somewhat of an order. After we made a poster consisting of a frame by frame steps for the calculations of our projects. Next we recorded the voice-overs for those calculations. Lastly we edited all the bits and pieces together into our video.
In our calculations we wanted to find the velocities of the ball while it was in the air. First we started with Anja's kick. To calculate the velocity we used Velocity=Distance/Time, so we plugged in the distance kicked (27.43m.) and the time taken (2.43s.) to get a total horizontal velocity of 11.29m/s. Next we calculated the vertical velocity using the equation a=v/t. We then plugged in the acceleration (9.8m/s or the acceleration due to gravity) and our time (1.22m/s) to get the vertical velocity of 11.9m/s. Next we used Pythagorean Theorem (a^2+b^2=c^2) to get a total velocity of 16.4m/s or 36 mi/hr. Then we did Zoe's kick using the same equations and conversions to get a total velocity of 12.46m/s or 27mi/hr.
Reflection
The physics of sports video was a great opportunity to figure out all the work it takes to make a movie or video and a way to experience all the new filming technologies along with what they are capable of. I think that the group I had for this project was a great one. We all had basically the same experience of filming (close to none) as each other and that meant we were all on the same page with the same pace. I hate groups that either move to fast or to slow compared to me, but this group was right on track. in my previous groups including the Rube Goldberg Machine project it has been hard to find a way to be apart of the group and contribute because usually there is one person in your group that does all of the work and then blames the rest of the people for not doing enough. That is why I liked this group so much because we all had something to do and contribute.So far in the year STEM has had to different projects that continue to be a blast and that is awesome! I can not wait until the next one (a homemade hybrid car) is underway.