Dr. Eric Goff, professor of Physics at Lynchburg College, discusses the physics of athletics in his presentation entitled "Olympic Dreams That Make Sport of Physics," a keynote address at the 2012 International Sports Engineering Conference July 9-13 at the University of Massachusetts Lowell Inn and Conference Center. Featuring presentations by global sports science experts, the conference took place in the United States for only the second time in its16-year history.

1. 12 July 2012

2. Second-Grade Science
_ _ _o_o t h
sm __
marbles

3. Men’s 100-m Dash
Bold Prediction: Winner is Jamaican with an “a”
in his first name and an “l” in his last name.
Usain Bolt Asafa Powell Yohan Blake
(1.96 m 6 5 ) (1.91 m 6 3 ) (1.80 m 5 11 )
9.58 s (WR)

4. Women’s 100-m Dash
• Started training with John
Smith at age 29.
• Ralph Mann’s video analysis
Carmelita Jeter work at CompuSport.
USA
The Washington Post
10.64 s (personal best) Sunday, 12 February 2012
10.49 s (WR – FloJo)

5. Table Tennis
Wang Hao
China
vi 20 m/s (45 mph) vf 14 m/s (32 mph)
vT 8.8 m/s (20 mph)

6. Table Tennis
Backhand: Butterfly Sriver topsheet on a
Bryce Speed sponge
Less “spongy” and less tackier to
give more control.
Wang Hao
China
Forehand: DHS Skyline III Blue Sponge
More “spongy” and more tackier to
give lots of spin.

7. New team entry???

8. Field Hockey
Australia
Argentina

9. Field Hockey Sticks
Mark McHutchon PhD thesis (University of Sheffield)

10. Men’s +105-kg Weightlifting (Snatch)
Behdad Salimi m = 214 kg (472 lbs)
Iran
h 2.1 m (7 ft)
t 3s
Eout 4.5 kJ 1 Calorie Eint 4 Calories ( 25% efficient)
Pout 1.5 kW 2 hp

11. Men’s Archery
• 72 arrows shot during
ranking round
Brady Ellison
USA • Recurve Bow 85%
efficient
• Each shot stores
60 J of energy
• 72 shots @ 25%
body efficiency
requires 17.3 kJ
athlete energy
4 Calories

12. Ongoing Archery Research
Images courtesy of Robert Donahoe.

13. Cycling – Women’s Sprint
Flying 200-m time trial
Victoria Pendleton 10.963 s (Olympic Record)
United Kingdom
<v> 18.24 m/s 40.81 mph
Pout 0.77 kW 1 hp ½ PSalimi
Eint 8 Calories

14. Women’s High Jump
Blanka Vlašić
Personal Best:
Croatia
(1.93 m 6 4 tall) 2.08 m (6 10 )
World Record:
• ½% increase in gravitational potential energy 2.09 m (6 10 )
• ½% increase in vertical launch speed Stefka Kostadinova
(1987)

15. Men’s High Jump
Jesse Williams Personal Best:
USA 2.37 m (7 9¼ )
(1.84 m 6 ½ tall)
• Greater acceleration makes up for smaller height. World Record:
• 3%-12% faster on approach than his competitors. 2.45 m (8 00 )
• Slightly less lean upon jumping. Javier Sotomayor
• See current issue of Outside! (1983)

16. Non-Human Projectiles: Footballs
14.1 m/s 31.5 mph
“Power and spin in the beautiful game,” John Eric Goff, Physics Today, July 2010

17. The Albert by Adidas
• Tango 12 Series by Adidas
• 32 Thermally-Bonded Triangles
• Grip Texture
• Woven Carcass and New Bladder
to Better Hold Air and Keep Out
Water
My Picks:
Men Women

18. Women’s 200-m Backstroke
Missy Franklin Personal Best:
USA 2:05.10
(17 years old!) (2011)
World Record: Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe) – 2:04.81

19. Women’s 200-m Backstroke
TALL! – 6 1.5 (1.87 m)
Big wingspan! – 6 4 (same
as height for “normal” people!)
Big hands and feet (size 13)!
The Washington Post
Sunday, 21 March 2012

20. The Beauty of Angular Momentum

21. Men’s Long Jump
Mitchell Watt
Australia Arms and legs move
to conserve angular
momentum!
1 m (3 ft) added!
Personal Best: 8.44 m
(27 8¼ )
CORBIS
Beamonesque effort needed!

22. Women’s 10-m Platform
Chen Ruolin
China
Throwing arms
and bending at
waist allow for
twists keep
angular mom.
conserved!
FINA Rule: D 8.4.6 In dives with twist, the twisting shall not be manifestly done
from the springboard or platform. If the twisting is manifestly done from the
springboard or platform, each judge shall deduct ½ to 2 points, according to his opinion.
Ilayout 4.3 Ituck 2.3 Ituck 13.6 Itwist

23. More Neat Diving Physics
• Archimedes helps out with a 5-m (16.4-ft) deep pool!
• Don’t expect the movie to run backwards (2nd law of
thermodynamics)!

24. Women’s Gymnastics – Uneven Bars
Viktoria Komova
Russia

25. Women’s 50-m Rifle Three Positions
Sonja Pfeilschifter
Germany
• 0.22-caliber (5.6 mm) small-bore, single-loader rifle
• Rifling Stability via angular momentum conservation!

26. How good is an “accurate” shooter?
10.4 mm
(0.409 )
vi 331 m/s (740 mph)
vf 302 m/s (676 mph)
t 0.16 s
Smashed Ping-Pong
Ball Across Table!
154.4 mm
(6.08 )

27. Men’s Discus Throw
Robert Harting Personal Best:
Germany 69.43 m
(227.8 ft)
World Record: 74.08 m (243.0 ft)
Jürgen Schult (1986) – longest-standing men's world record!

28. Men’s Discus Throw
Ch. 8
v0 = 25 m/s ( 56 mph)

29. Who are the best scientists?

30. Scientific Literacy
Science and
the Educated
American: A
Core Component
of Liberal
Education
(AAAS)
Miller: “… able to read the Science section in the Tuesday New York Times.”

31. Elementary School Science
SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING INDICATORS 2012

32. Summary of AAPT Sponsored Discussion Group
Response to Achieve on the Next Generation
Science Standards First Draft
May 31, 2012:
Even teachers with excellent content knowledge will
need professional development activities to assist
them in implementing the science and engineering
practices both in student learning and in student
performance assessments.

33. We can help!

34. Photo Credits
http://www.london2012.com/cycling-track/photos/galleryid=1236390/#victoria-pendleton-great-britain-rides-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Usain_Bolt_smiling_Berlin_2009.JPG
the-women-sprint
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Powell_2010-06-04_Bislett_Games_06.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_United_Kingdom.svg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Yohan_Blake_Daegu_2011.jpg http://waynejoseph.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/robert-harting.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1988-0626-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Jamaica.svg
014%2C_J%C3%BCrgen_Schult.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Carmelita_Jeter_Berlin_2009.jpg http://www.usaswimming.org/_Rainbow/images/_National%20Team%20Swimmers/Franklin1300039722.gif
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/missy-franklin-has-body-built-for-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_United_States_(Pantone).svg
speed/2012/02/15/gIQAtHT7RS_story.html
http://bilder.augsburger-allgemeine.de/img/18499571-1327683180000/topTeaser_crop_Sonja-Pfeilschifter-ist-mit-einem-Sieg-in-
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/QTO5d4R_2zR/Olympics+Day+15+Athletics/MTV_xa_Lzf_/Blanka+Vlasic
die-Olympia-Saison-gestartet.-Foto-David-Ebener.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:50_meter_rifle_target.svg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Croatia.svg
http://images.beijing2008.cn/20071217/Img214217357.JPG http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Jesse+Williams/IAAF+World+Indoor+Championships+Day+Three/GqTksB-WgvQ
http://www.ittf.com/stories/pictures/wang_hao_30_10_10_Large.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Russia.svg
http://therightwinger.co.za/2012/03/adidas-present-2012-olympic-football%E2%80%99s-official-match-ball-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China.svg
%E2%80%98the-albert%E2%80%99/
http://www.celebritiesplayingtabletennis.com/barack_obama-david_cameron8.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Brazil.svg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Germany.svg http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Victoria+Komova/Artistic+Gymnastics+World+Championships+Tokyo/6opzDCwzyLi
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/Tk1852lTghw/Artistic+Gymnastics+World+Championships+Tokyo/hUmj3_e2hqA/Vict
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Las_Leonas_2008_%28completo%29.jpg
oria+Komova
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2008_Olympic_field_hockey_team_Australia.JPG http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/images/hs-2007-41-a-web.jpg
http://www.sportsauthority.com/largeImage/index.jsp?LargeImageURL=http%3A//TSA.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/p100
http://www.hzdr.de/FWK/MITARB/rs/quantrot.gif
6033dt.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Argentina.svg http://www.iaaf.org/mm/Photo/06/10/15/61015_FULL-PRT.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HduJeMruRQ http://img10.beijing2008.cn/20080821/Img214571933.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/Flag_of_Iran.svg http://i.eurosport.com/2011/07/18/741731-9290651-640-360.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/NN-K125MBGPG_Grill-Mikrowelle_silber_Panasonic.gif
http://matchstic.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/diet-coke.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Sun_by_the_Atmospheric_Imaging_Assembly_of_NASA%27s_Solar_Dynamics_Observator http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Ellison2010.jpg
y_-_20100819.jpg

35. Thanks So Much!
More from me: Gold Medal Physics: The Science of Sports
Questions and/or comments???