Physics of Sports Video
Definition for the biking term that is mentioned in our video:
Clip-ins: A type of shoe and pedal system that lock into each other like a key fits into a door handle. Clip-ins increase tire rotation and efficiency. Definitions for the physics terms that are mentioned in our video: Force is a measure of strength or energy related to or a part of physical action or movement. Friction: Friction can be defined as a force in opposition to motion. For example, if you have ever tried to slide across a floor in socks, you would know that a polished wood floor probably gives you a good glide, whereas a carpet stops you from gliding at all. This is because the carpet has a lot of friction between it and your socks, and the wood floor has much less friction. Mechanical Advantage is the advantage of using a machine. It is found using ratios of input over output. Mechanical Advantage can measure distance or force (distance input over distance output or force input over force output). For example, when throwing a ball, it is advantageous to use a lacrosse stick because even though it requires more force, the ball travels further than you could have thrown on your own. Also, when jacking up a car, it makes more sense to use a machine than to try yourself because the machine has an advantage. A definition of this can also be found in our video. Newtons: The unit in which force is measured. Pounds can also be considered a force, and we used pounds to calculate the force that Jordan (the mountain biker in our group) was able to exert on the bike. Before we began working on our physics of sports video, our STEM teacher taught us how to calculate some of the physics he thought would be most useful to us while making our videos. One of the most important topics we were introduced to were vectors.
Vector: a quantity that has both magnitude and direction. It is typically represented by an arrow whose direction is the same as that of the quantity. Vectors are important when calculating the direction of an object in motion. Vectors also directly relate to Horizontal and Vertical motion. A baseball that is hit for a home run has both Horizontal and Vertical motion. Horizontal motion can be simplified to mean distance. Vertical motion can be simplified to mean height. It is easier to keep track of these motions when thinking about them in this way, even though this is not totally true. Probably the most significant thing we learned about Horizontal and Vertical motion was that they are completely independent from each other. It takes the same about of time for a person to jump up and down as for that same person to jump up and down but also forward or backwards at the same time. They do not effect each other. They do, however, make it easier to calculate the vectors of objects in motion. |
This was the second project I completed for my STEM class. The objective of this project was to discover the physics behind certain movements in sports and to help the high school students who play those sports to improve their skills.
My group chose to create a video explaining the physics of mountain biking. One of my group members is a mountain biker, and we were all able to gain new insights and calculate information about how it is best to mountain bike. I personally learned a lot of interesting facts and concepts related to mountain biking. Previously, I had no experience with mountain biking. I had biked, but I did not posses any knowledge regarding terminology or statistics related to bikes. In fact, some of my favorite parts of this project included learning more about bikes in general and learning specifically how talented mountain bikers must be to successful. I had a lot of fun filming the sections of our video during which one of my group members was mountain biking. He nearly got run over by a truck and almost fell off the bike while doing a trick. Sadly, neither of those moments were included in our final video project, but we did include at the very end of our video one of the jumps he did complete. This project was very stress free for me. I think we all did a great job assigning roles and working with each other. I never had any issues with our group being dysfunctional or hard to deal with. My team members were all supportive and willing to work hard with the time we had to make our final product the best we could. However, we did have four members and only three of us ever really worked on the project. In hindsight, I don't know how this happened exactly, but the final member of our group was somehow very good at not being involved and then not drawing attention to himself. Fortunately, he was never in our way, and myself and the other two members of our group were all very focused and hard working so none of us were set back by the absence of the help of another member. It seemed from my experience that these types of video projects are easy to do in smaller numbers particularly when assigning roles and such. In doing this second project for STEM class, I kept in mind what I learned in doing the Rube Goldberg Machine project, which was that I worked well as a leader and that procrastination was horrible for my mental health. So this time I became more or less the leader of our group. This meant that I assigned roles and kept us all on track. As the project progressed, my other team members started coming to me to ask questions and get things approved, but were all very involved in all the steps themselves as well. I was really grateful that we were able to work well with each other. For our next STEM project I will remember what worked in doing the project and what I think I could improve on. Physics calculations (used in our video): To measure the wheel rotation - We used the Mechanical Advantage equation presented below. Mechanical Advantage = distance input/distance output* Distance input: one pedal rotation Distance output: rotation of the wheels *The slash ( / ) means divided by Gear 1: 43cm (diameter of pedal rotation) / 49.5cm (rear wheel distance output) Final Mechanical Advantage: 0.87 Our video explains these steps. Gear 22: 43cm (diameter of pedal rotation) / 219.9cm (rear wheel distance output) Final Mechanical Advantage: 0.20 Our video explains these steps. To measure the force of the bike - We found how many pounds Jordan (the mountain biker in our group) could exert on the pedals. He could exert 160 pounds of force. We then converted pounds into Newtons, the unit used to measure force in most cases. There are 4.45 Newtons in a pound. Using this inflation we found that Jordan could exert 712 Newtons of force. |