Physics Of Basketball Essay

In the last few days of April, my dad was once again getting into the NBA playoffs, and he felt inspired to go and shoot some hoops in our local park. I decided to tag along with him as I really didn’t want to read The Grapes of Wrath. A few minutes into the game and my mind was already wandering, and I realized that, Ah-ha, the game of basketball revolves completely around physics. The main physics of basketball that I decided to focus on where the changes in energy types of the ball and how changes of the air within the ball affects the ball itself.
Basketballs always have energy. When a basketball is in the air unmoving, it has potential energy, this means that if the objects keeping it in place were to be moved, the basketball would start moving. When the basketball is moving, the ball has kinetic energy. Both of these energy types can be subdivided into further energy types, but for simplicity’s sake, we'll just focus on the overall group. In physics, energy can be transferred from one form to another, for example, when the ball is held up at a height, and then released, at that initial point of release, all of the energy will be potential energy. Halfway to …show more content…
Air will expand in hot temperatures, and shrink in cold temperatures. This is why it is not a good idea to leave your basketball out in the sun, if it gets too hot, the air pressure could expand beyond the limits of the ball and cause it to pop. This happens with other pressurized objects, such as tires and footballs. The air pressure within a basketball will also have an effect on its elasticity. This is because when a basketball hits the ground, it compresses slightly, and the air within the ball will push back after the compression, launching it back up. If there is not enough air in the basketball, there is not enough air to push the ball back up, causing it to just remain