Physics of Sports Video

For this project, we had to decide on a simple action in a sport. This can include hitting a tennis ball, throwing a football, hitting a hockey puck, etc. We then had to calculate the steps of that step. We chose hitting a tennis ball which meant that we needed to calculate the force of impact, the horizontal velocity, and more.

Our Final Video

To make our video, everyone went outside and recorded lines and the action of hitting a tennis ball. While doing this we also took measurements, including how high the ball was thrown from, and making sure to get a good shot of the ball hitting the racket so we can know how fast the ball was moving and so we could calculate the force of impact. The link to our document with our script and storyboard (along with some calculations) is: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fjf3UmS7lCRQ70-1cWsKo7RA813KQGvKjEprwZJxCQY/edit?usp=sharing.

Also shown are a small section of my handwritten calculations relating to this project.

Calculations:

  • Potential Energy: 7.3J

  • Speed Heading to Racket: 1.1m/s

  • Speed After Hitting Racket: 3.3m/s

  • Force of Impact: 84N

  • Horizontal Velocity: 13m/s

  • Vertical Velocity: 14m/s

Reflection: Two things I improved on during this project is my work ethic and my communication to my partners. I worked really hard on this project and I am proud of my calculations and my section of the video. I also feel like compared to our first two projects, I communicated a lot better to my partners and we had a good plan from the first day. We made a script and decided all of our calculation goals to. What I could have done better this project is that I could've organized my work better and I could've been more creative in our project. I will make sure to work on this for the next project.