Physics of Sports
The Physics of a Tennis Serve
Description:
For our second project of freshman year, we were asked to help the student athletes of San Marin by explaining the physics of different motions in sports to help them perform much more efficiently. We were to explain our research through a video that could be understood by not just our fellow classmates and our teacher.
Our group decided to show how to properly execute a tennis serve. The tennis serve can help you up your tennis game dramatically. The tennis serve is one of the most important parts of the game tennis. The serve can also improve other parts of your tennis game; such as your forehand. Our video starts of with one of the worst serves in tennis to the second best serve. I you can master your serve than it gives a huge advantage over your competitors.
Our group decided to show how to properly execute a tennis serve. The tennis serve can help you up your tennis game dramatically. The tennis serve is one of the most important parts of the game tennis. The serve can also improve other parts of your tennis game; such as your forehand. Our video starts of with one of the worst serves in tennis to the second best serve. I you can master your serve than it gives a huge advantage over your competitors.
Concepts:
Vertical Velocity: Velocity is the speed that any one thing travels in a certain direction. Is the velocity the ball has going only vertical. To find this you use the equation gravitational pull*time. The gravitational pull is 9.8 m/s^2 and it took 0.7 seconds to go down. So the vertical velocity is 6.9 m/s or 15 mph. The unit is m/s.
Force: Can be described as a push or pull. This is found by using the equation mv=ft or mass*velocity=force*time. The tennis ball had a mass of 0.058kg, and it had a velocity of 24.3 m/s and it took 0.002 seconds to reach the floor. So, that made the equation 0.058*24.3=f*0.002. The total force is 704.7N or about equal to 158 pounds of force. The units are Newtons.
Horizontal velocity: Found by distance divided by time. So, it is 17m/0.7 sec=24.3m/s. Thhe unit is m/s.
Velocity total: the average velocity throughout the entire path. Vtotal= 24.3 m/s. The unit is m/s.
Force: Can be described as a push or pull. This is found by using the equation mv=ft or mass*velocity=force*time. The tennis ball had a mass of 0.058kg, and it had a velocity of 24.3 m/s and it took 0.002 seconds to reach the floor. So, that made the equation 0.058*24.3=f*0.002. The total force is 704.7N or about equal to 158 pounds of force. The units are Newtons.
Horizontal velocity: Found by distance divided by time. So, it is 17m/0.7 sec=24.3m/s. Thhe unit is m/s.
Velocity total: the average velocity throughout the entire path. Vtotal= 24.3 m/s. The unit is m/s.
Reflection:
Although we finished our video closer to the deadline than we had wanted, I felt that our group worked overall very well together when it came getting our video finished.
One of the things that I felt went well was splitting up to do different parts of the project. For example, Holly and I would be editing the video, while Matt and Adam would be working on calculations or fixing the script. This made it easier for us to complete the project. Another peak was that we took our time on our script to make it perfect. We spent the most time definitely on writing the storyboard and the script. Another thing that worked well for us was we all commuincated easily. When someone was confused someone would take the time to explain what was happening to them.
Overall my group worked pretty well together. Though no groups are perfect. One of our biggest problems was getting off task. Our friends would be around us and it would move us off the task at hand. Another problem we ran into was when we would try to record in the STEM studio and other people would bang on the windows and try to get in while we were recording. This resulted the recording taking a lot longer than nessicary. Though this was out of our control it was definitely one of our biggest faults.
For the next project I will personally try to stay on task more, and take more of a leadership roll.
One of the things that I felt went well was splitting up to do different parts of the project. For example, Holly and I would be editing the video, while Matt and Adam would be working on calculations or fixing the script. This made it easier for us to complete the project. Another peak was that we took our time on our script to make it perfect. We spent the most time definitely on writing the storyboard and the script. Another thing that worked well for us was we all commuincated easily. When someone was confused someone would take the time to explain what was happening to them.
Overall my group worked pretty well together. Though no groups are perfect. One of our biggest problems was getting off task. Our friends would be around us and it would move us off the task at hand. Another problem we ran into was when we would try to record in the STEM studio and other people would bang on the windows and try to get in while we were recording. This resulted the recording taking a lot longer than nessicary. Though this was out of our control it was definitely one of our biggest faults.
For the next project I will personally try to stay on task more, and take more of a leadership roll.