A Moment in Soccer - Selection #5

The Science of the Game

During a Milwaukee School of Engineering game, the ball caromed off the opponent’s leg and headed toward my face. My matrix-like reflexes avoided a catastrophe to my Hollywood smile. The referee called a throw-in, for the other team.

“Their ball?! That’s impossible,” I yelled. “That defies the laws of physics.”

The bench players chuckled.

“I wonder if it really defies physics?” one of them said.

“We’d have to create a test,” another said.

“It wouldn’t be hard,” another posited.

“Which laws of physics does it defy, gravity or the conservation of energy or momentum?” they questioned.

“How would you consider angular momentum?“ one remarked. “That's how you account for the bend in the flight path as opposed to the linearity of basic kinematics.”

“Inertia would be easy to calculate for a sphere with known mass. Probably not super relevant for "defying" physics though,” one offered while the others nodded their head.

“What about the loss of momentum from an inelastic collision against the leg which posits questions about the deformation of the ball and leg and the stored versus dissipated kinetic energy?” another questioned as my brain started to freeze.

“Really guys?” I asked. “Can we work on that later?”

“Ha coach, you’re the one who mentioned physics.”