Physics of Phootball
July 6, 2010 3:55 PM   Subscribe

Free during the World Cup the IOP (Institute of Physics) has a collection of papers all about football (soccer). Also related is NASA's recent findings regarding the randomness of the new Adidas ball.
posted by ozomatli (8 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
The unpredictability of the ball has led to my friends deciding that Germany, as the home of adidas, have an unfair advantage.
posted by ellieBOA at 4:40 PM on July 6, 2010


I first read that as "NASCAR's recent findings" and was really confused.
posted by TooFewShoes at 7:20 PM on July 6, 2010


Germany, Spain, Uruguay, and the Dutch haven't had any problems with the ball. Funny how only the teams complaining about the ball have been sent home.
posted by bardic at 10:29 PM on July 6, 2010


Torres sure has.
posted by ageispolis at 10:46 PM on July 6, 2010


Germany, Spain, Uruguay, and the Dutch haven't had any problems with the ball. Funny how only the teams complaining about the ball have been sent home.

The knocked-out teams' fans are much more prone to conspiracy theories.
posted by ellieBOA at 2:54 AM on July 7, 2010


"Germany, Spain, Uruguay, and the Dutch haven't had any problems with the ball. Funny how only the teams complaining about the ball have been sent home.

The knocked-out teams' fans are much more prone to conspiracy theories."

The Nasa article states that "... the results show the ball is unpredictable at speeds over 72 km/hr. This situation is aggravated by the light weight of the ball, about 440gr. When it is hit, it has what it is called “knuckle effect”, making it very hard to control.

If those two factors are added to the altitude of the South African cities where matches are played, it becomes extremely difficult to play football with that ball because the “knuckle effect” is multiplied."

So Nasa confirms our conspiracy theories i guess. Also germany had the ball for a year and teams were able to practice with it. This is more the fault of the Premier League and The FA than with the German FA.

Clearly this ball wobbles and moves in the air. Craig Johnston, creator of the Predator Boot has written a 12 Page Letter to J Sepp Blatter about this.
posted by marienbad at 3:33 AM on July 7, 2010


Casillas, the Spanish starting keeper did complain about the ball even before the world cup started, and he has been definitely having trouble catching it, as have most if not all keepers. Have you noticed how they all tend to deflect the ball instead of trying to catch it? how it always tends to rebound off the body of the keeper because of bad positioning? These are world class keepers that are failing at the most basic skills of their trade.
posted by valdesm at 3:35 AM on July 7, 2010


Weren't there a ton of complaints about the Teamgeist ball in 2006? Has this just become part of the game?
posted by Kabanos at 9:24 AM on July 7, 2010


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