Embedded Files
Overall Driving Question: What is the most efficient pass?
Experimental Driving Question: How does the placement of the plant foot affect the amount of energy output on the ball?
Experiment Details: I will be passing a ball 10 meters away from my “teammate” (goal). For this experiment, I will be testing the location of the plant foot and the output of energy on the ball. I hypothesize that as the location of the plant foot changes, energy will be directly affected and I will be able to determine how the different locations of the plant foot will affect the pass. For the different locations, I will be planting the top of my shoe 70 centimeters ahead from the center of the ball, in line with the center of the ball, and 70 centimeters backwards from the center of the ball. From here, I will plant my kicking foot, 30 centimeters behind the ball from where I am kicking. This way, I can reduce the differences in range of motion for the passes. From here, I will find the differences kinetic energy in order to determine the ideal foot placement in order to pass the ball with the most energy.
Picture Example:
Picture Example:
Plant foot next to ball:
nextTrial1.movPlant foot in front of ball:
frontTrial2.movPlant foot behind ball:
behindTrial1.movOther trials in this folder
Link to Motion & Force Graphs
Energy Diagram:
Energy Diagram:
Here, I am using a finite amount of chemical energy because an infinite amount would be inaccurate. Both chemical energy and thermal energy are not fully known because finding the accurate results are difficult. Additionally, the initial chemical energy I had is divided by 5 because of the 20% rule. This 20% rule is from energy losses and prevents things all around us from ever being 100% energy efficient.
Derivations/Equations I used:
Before my conclusions, here are some results I found for my experiment:
The resistive force in this experiment is rolling friction
Initial momentum: 0
Final momentum of the ball for each of the kicks:
In front: 1.13 (kg*m)/s
Next to: 1.23 (kg*m)/s
Behind: 1.04 (kg*m)/s
Impulse for each of the kicks:
In front: 8.27 N/s
Next to: 9.45 N/s
Behind: 6.3 N/s
Power of roll:
In front: -1.81 J/s
Next to: -7.42 J/s
Behind: -1.7 J/s
Extraneous Variables:
Wind (may affect velocity and some equations square velocity which will highly affect value)
Type of ball used (mass varies)
Surface played on (grass vs. turf)
Shoe used (cleats can vary and shoe can vary between players)
Conclusions/Results:
The average kinetic force for the ball in motion after my pass for each of the different plants foots were:
Plant foot in front: 2.75 J
Plant foot next to: 6.22 J
Plant foot behind: 2.16 J
To conclude, planting your foot beside the ball results in the most kinetic energy and a more solid, consistent pass. In the middle of the group was the plant foot in the front. Although it is not ideal to plant your foot in front of the ball, the kinetic energy is higher than reaching forward for it. Lastly, when comparing the two previous methods, the worst way to pass a ball is by reaching and stepping forward because the kinetic energy is the least, resulting in a slower pass that can be picked off by the opponent. Using this experiment and my previous ones, soccer players will be able to effectively learn the most useful pass and efficient for different game situations. And in this case, planting your foot next to the ball is the way to go.
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