Physics of Sports Video

The Goal

The goal for the Physics of Sports project was to create a video in which you would explain a specific sports action. My group decided to make our video on the physics of a Baseball swing. 

The Process

We began the process of making our video by planning out our video and thinking about the pieces of the swing we would explain. After we finished our planning we began planning out our storyboard and thinking about what we were going to do for the script. The next couple of days were spent filming and using the videos to make the calculations for our videos. We used the videos to calculate the forces, velocities, acelarations, conservation of momentum, and elasticity. We then recorded even more video clips for the video and began to start compiling them into our video. We continued to work on the video and record more video clips when nescasary. After getting the base of the video done we recorded the voice overs for our video and put them into the video matching with the other clips. After getting everthing we needed into the video we edited the video to look better and be easier to understand before turning it in. 

End Result

Our group was happy with our end result. We met all the requirements and even did some level 4 components such as elasticity and air resistance. Our video ended up being 5 minutes long and was well-edited. 

Major Physics Ideas In Video 

Force of Impact - The force of an impact between two objects. Calculated by solving for force in the equation mass times the change in velocity equals force times time of impact.

Example - The force of the impact between the bat and the ball was 2220 newtons. 

Horizontal Velocity - The speed of an object from side to side. Calculated by dividing distance horizontal by time.

Example - The vertical velocity of the ball was about 15 m/s.

Vertical Velocity - The speed of an object as it falls or goes up. Calculated by multiplying the acceleration from gravity by the time of fall.

Example - The vertical velocity of the ball was 30 m/s.

Total Velocity - The total velocity of an object is the combination of the horizontal and vertical velocities. Calculated by using the Pythagorean theorem or vertical velocity^2 + horizontal velocity^2 = total velocity^2.

Example - The total velocity of the ball was 33.5 m/s.

Conservation of Momentum - Conservation of momentum is the fact that the momentum before the collision must be equal to the momentum after the collision. Calculated by setting the initial mass times the change in velocity of the first object plus the mass times the change in velocity in the second object equal to the ending mass times the change in velocity of the first object plus the mass times the change in velocity in the second object. 

Example - The momentum of the bat and the ball is the same before and after the ball is hit. 

Elasticity - The elasticity of a collision is how much energy is conserved during an impact. With no outside forces, an impact would be 100% elastic however outside forces decrease the elasticity of an impact.

Example -  The elasticity of the impact between the ball and the bat was 24%.

Reflection

While working on our physics of sports video there were two main areas that I feel that I really excelled in my leadership as well as my work ethic and production. As a leader, I feel that I communicated well with my groupmates and let them know what was needed to help to complete the video. I also assisted my groupmates when they needed help to complete a part of the video. While working on the project I thought that my work ethic and production were really on point. I did big portions of the recording and put together a big piece of the video. I also did what my teammates asked of me along with finding things that needed to be done without asking. 

 However, there were two main areas that I thought I could improve the most on for future projects which were my attitude and my empathy. My attitude was not bad while creating our video but I think that I could do a better job of encouraging others positive behavior and attitude. My empathy was also fine however I think that I could do a better job of broadening group activities and being more inclusive.