the science

behind

the
physics
behind
volleyball
and
badminton

Revealed!

Energeia
table of contents

Table of Contents

Facts about volleyball

How to badminton:
the geek way

The science behind

volleyball

Facts about badminton

Meet the Editors

FACTS ABOUT
VOLLEYBALL

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The game of volleyball was

invented in 1895 by William G.
Morgan.
The first World Championships
were held in 1949 for men and
1952 for women.
Volleyball were first introduced
as Olympic sports in 1964.

Most volleyball players jump

about 300 times a match.

Volleyball took some of its

characteristics from tennis and
handball.

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The first two-man beach game

was played in 1930.

Volleyball was called mintonette at first but it was later

changed to volleyball.
The first special designed ball
for the sport was created in
1900.
Volleyball is the second most
popular sport in the world today, exceeded only by soccer.

The longest recorded volleyball

game was in Kingston, North
Carolina. It took 75 hours and
30 minutes.

HOW TO BADMITON

the geek way

hen it comes
to flying projectiles,
the
badminton
shuttlecock or birdie is
unusual in that it flips on
impact with a racket so
that it always flies corkfirst. This flipping motion
arises from the fact that,
unlike almost all other
sports projectiles, the
shuttlecock has a conical
shape and, because the
cork is much denser than
the feathers, a non-homogeneous mass.
These unique features
have inspired extensive
research on the physics
of shuttlecock trajectories
over the years, with one of
the latest studies focusing
on the flip phenomenon
and its implications on
game strategies.
The physicists, Caroline Cohen, et al., at Ecole
Polytechnique and ESPCI
Paris Tech, both in France,
have published their pa-

per called The physics of

badminton in a recent issue of the New Journal of
Physics.
For
some
background, the scientists
note that contemporary
badminton
originated
from the Indian game
tomfool. The shuttlecock is traditionally made
of 16 goose feathers (or
plastic mesh) planted into
a cork. It is considered a
lightweight and extended
object, with a weight of 5
grams and a length of 10
cm, giving it a very large
drag. Despite the large
drag, shuttlecocks can
still achieve top speeds of
more than 300 mph (137
m/s).
In their study, the
physicists recorded shuttlecock flips using a highspeed video camera. For a
typical flip sequence, the
footage revealed a 1-millisecond (ms) contact time
with the racket, 20 ms for

Trivia Questions
1. A Shuttlecock is launched with an initial velocity
of 25 m/s at an angle of 45-degrees with the horizontal. Determine the time of flight, the horizontal
distance, and the peak height of the Shuttlecock

the initial flip, and an 80ms oscillation time during which the shuttlecock
stabilized. When the hit
intensity decreases, these
times increase. The video also verified the wellknown fact that the shuttlecock never performs a
full 360 turn.
The scientists also
investigated how the shuttlecock geometry influences its flipping dynamics by
conducting free fall experiments in a water tank. In
particular, they compared
shuttlecock
prototypes
whose feather skirts have
different opening angles.
They found that opening
angles that are too small
or too large both result
in long flipping and stabilizing times. Not surprisingly, the geometry of real
shuttlecocks has been empirically chosen to have intermediate opening angles
that allow them to flip and
stabilize rapidly.

2. A Shuttlecock leaves the ground with an initial

velocity of 12 m/s at an angle of 28-degrees above
the horizontal. Determine the time of flight, the
horizontal distance, and the peak height of Shuttlecock..

53 kg

Volleyball

erage acceleration are complimentary of

each other and
are both important to the
concept of volleyball. Velocity
is defined as displacement in a given time. Once can
find velocity by dividing distance by
time. So the equation for velocity is:
v=d/t. It is possible,
with this equation, to
find how fast the ball
moves from one place to
another and how fast a player moves to different spots
on the court. A coach always
wants their players to be quick
on the court. They mentally
assess how much distance
they can cover in a short period of time; or technically
speaking, their velocity. Acceleration is the rate of change
of velocity. Players as well as
the volleyball have acceleration. This will be discussed
more later. Acceleration can
be used to find the speed of a
player whose velocity increases and decreases during a certain amount of time that they

0.283495 kg

Forces,
acceleration,
gravity,
projectile motion, and many
other such things make volleyball the game that it is. Volleyball is a sport that includes
many aspects of Physics some
of these are very basic concepts while others are more
advanced.
Better understanding of these
concepts could improve a
players game.
Physics explains and elucidates the basic fundamentals of volleyball
and why one should perform
them in such a way.
Average velocity and av-

the science
behind

are in motion. Acceleration

has both direction and magnitude. When a player moves
forward and speeds up they
have positive acceleration. If
a player moves forward and
slows down they have negative
acceleration. The formula for
average acceleration is A avg=
(Vf-Vi)/ (tf-ti).
Another very basic concept of physics that affects
volleyball is gravity. It affects
every aspect of the game; the
players, the ball, the net. If
there was not gravity the ball
would never come down and
there would be no such game.
The game of volleyball
envelops the forces (a force
causes a change in the motion
of an object) that exist in nature, which are described in
Newtons Laws. Newtons First
Law says: An object at rest remains at rest and an object in
motion continues in motion
with constant velocity unless
it experiences a net external
force. This law is also known
as the law of inertia. Examples
of this law are seen in many
different situations on the
court. If the ball is falling it
will continue falling until it hits
the ground or is acted upon
(passed, set, or hit) by another

player or force. Also, the volleyball net will not move unless
its hit by a player. Newtons
Second Law states: The acceleration of an object is directly
proportional to the Force and
inversely proportional to the
mass of the object. This can
be seen in the equation F=ma.
The force a ball is hit with can
be found using this law. Finally, Newtons Third Law explains: There is an equal and
opposite reaction for every action. A force acting on a body
is the result of its interaction
with another body, so forces
always come in pairs. In this
case, action and reaction are
the two opposite forces, or the
action-reaction pair. The force
of the volleyball hitting the
forearm of the passer would
be considered the action; the
force of the passer on the ball
would be the reaction. This
law explains the mechanism of
how one would pass a ball.
Power is very important in volleyball. Maximum
power is desired to have the
most force behind a hit or
serve. Power is the time rate
at which work is done. When
pairing this with the concepts
of energy, the arm swing comes
to mind. The faster the arm
swing, the more power there
is behind the ball. This supports the definition of power.
There are also many different
areas where power is used in
the sport, however
the most obvious is
hitting.
Momentum is
conserved in collisions. Collisions are very important because they happen all the
time in volleyball. There

are three types of collisions.

The first is a perfectly inelastic collision where two objects
stick together and move with
the same velocity after colliding. The second is an elastic
collision where the total momentum and total kinetic energy remain constant. The third
is an inelastic collision where
two objects deform during the
collision making the total kinetic energy decrease and the
objects move separately after
the collision. Inelastic collisions occur during volleyball.
When the ball hits the players
forearm the ball and the arm
momentarily deform or dent
before the ball bounces off the
arm. This happens anytime
the ball is touched.

Although Physics is not
something we would readily
think about or explore when
considering volleyball, it is obvious the game would not even

exist without such knowledge.

Using the concepts of Physics
one can create a much better
understanding of the game of
volleyball.

FACTS ABOUT
BADMINTON

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Badminton has been Olympic

sport since 1992.

The USA badminton association

was established in 1936.

The record for the worlds

shortest badminton match is
only six minutes.
The best badminton shuttles
are made from the feathers
from the left wing of a goose.
Badminton is the worlds fastest racket sport

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The International Badminton

Federation has over 150 member nations.
China and Indonesia have won
70% of all IBF events.
The original name of badminton was shuttlecock.

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16 feathers are used to make a

shuttle.
A shuttlecock weighs between
4.74 and 5.50 grams.

meet the

editors

Janelle Castrence Luigi Guadalupe

Volleyball Model, Writer

Audrey Diaz

Facts and Trivia Writer

Badminton Model, Writer

Jairus Perez

Layout, Editor-in-Chief