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Soccer is one of many people favor sport, however many people has not thought about how much physics applies in this game. During our physics class we have learned different concepts that apply to soccer. Newton first law stated that “an object at rest will remain at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force” (Giambattista). Also, the projectile motion defined as “the motion of an object thrown or projected into the air, subject to only the acceleration of the gravity” (Giambattista). We may explain more physics concepts on soccer like energy, work and force, but let us see how the Newton first law and projectile motion can be explained on soccer.
The Newton first law can be explained on soccer by considering a soccer ball as an object and the kicker as the unbalance force apply to the object. When the soccer ball lay on the grass it is on the rest, it is going to stay at rest until a kicker kicked it. Once the ball is kicked, it will accelerate with a constant speed, rolling on the grass if no other player acted in it, the ball will create a friction between a ball and the grass this will prevent the ball from keeping rolling and stop or go back to rest. In case another player gets in contact with the ball and kicked it again the ball will continue to move to get to the field and stop. The soccer ball does not move on itself unless a player kicked it, this proves the Newton first law of motion in soccer ball.
In the other hand, the projectile motion applied in soccer ball when the ball is kicked. The ball is subject to be projected into the air with more force applied to it by the kicker, the ball forms a small angle while leaving the grass as the ball is projected to air we can measure the height, velocity and distance of the ball, when the ball is landing it is going to form a large angle with less force. Belgacem quoted on the European journal of physics that “We study projectile motion with air resistance quadratic in speed. An approximation of a low-angle trajectory is considered where the horizontal velocity (v, x), is assumed to be much larger than the vertical velocity, (v, y)” (Belgacem). This means the distance and the velocity of the ball projected in the air is measured on both direction vertical and horizontal. Ratra Gulraj gave an example that “If the ball is kicked at an angle of 45 degrees it will get the maximum range. It also affects the vertical and horizontal velocity. For gravity, there is always a force of 9.8 m/s^2 that acts downwards, thus affecting the vertical distance of how fast and high the ball travels” (Ratra). We need to know that the shape and the size of the ball on projectile motion is very important because it does determine the air resistance of the ball. So, the soccer ball activity proves the projectile motion.
Work cited
Belgacem, C. (2014). Range and flight time of quadratic resisted projectile motion using the Lambert W function. European Journal of Physics, 35(5), 7.
“Forces.” The Physics of Soccer, thephysicsinsoccer.weebly.com/forces.html.
Giambattista, A., et al. College Physics. With an Intergrarted Approach to Forces and Kinematics. McGraw-Hill, 2007.
“Kinematics.” The Physics of Soccer, thephysicsinsoccer.weebly.com/kinematic.html.
Ratra, Gulraj. “Application of Projectile Motion.” Projectile Motion, gulrajprojectilemotion.weebly.com/blog/application-of-projectile-motion.
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