Blog 2

This weekend, I watched the Notre Dame, Michigan State football game.  With the game tied and 4 minutes left, Michigan State punted the ball.  As Aaron Bates punted the ball in the air, I realized that what I learned this week in physics could be used to graph the flight of the ball.  If we were to use a position graph for beginning of the punt, we could tell both the velocity and angle of the balls flight.  Using these two numbers, we could find out the Vx and Vy through the formulas: Vx=Vcos(theta)  and Vy= Vsin(theta).  I also know that the entire time the ball is in flight, the Vx remains the same.  However, the Vy is continuously changing and when it reaches the ball's peak of travel, it is 0.  I had no idea that vectors and projectile motion played such a large role in the game of football and especially special teams.   This game was great and went all the way into overtime.