Holy Cross Hosting Physics of Sports Conference

WORCESTER, Mass. – Five academics and one sports professional will reflect on the physics of sports in a regional conference on Oct. 13 and 14 at the College of the Holy Cross. Conference presenters will discuss the physics of sports and athletics, from the dynamics and kinematics of baseballs, baseball bats, and footballs to the variability of sport records to the effects of technology on sports. The conference is a joint meeting of the American Physical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers.

Reporters interested in attending any of the following events should contact Nikolas Markantonatos at 508-793-2419 or nmarkant@holycross.edu. Oct. 13 - Talks in Hogan Campus Center

2:15 p.m., Plenary Talk I “The Physics of Baseball” by Robert K. Adair, department of physics, Yale University

Science illuminates most aspects of baseball. Adair will emphasize the constraints on the game from limits on biological information transfer. He will discuss the incomplete knowledge of the flight of thrown and batted baseballs through the air.

3:30 p.m., Plenary Talk II “Baseball Bat Research and Regulations” by Patrick Drane, Baseball Research Center, University of Massachusetts at Lowell

The talk will focus on the equipment regulations in baseball and discuss the physics and engineering relating to the bat-ball collision. Drane will describe how and why the equipment is regulated and include aspects of how we test properties of both the bats and baseballs. Topics will include aluminum versus wood bats, corked bats, bat durability, stiffness and mass distribution as it relates to baseball bats, and specifications of the major league baseball including the lack of the “juiced baseball.”

4:30 p.m., Plenary Talk III “Angular Momentum of the Human Body” by John Di Bartolo, department of physics, Polytechnic University

Movement of the human body in the sagittal plane (the plane which slices the body between left and right) can be simulated with a simple model made up of four rods and a sphere. In a situation where the torque about the center of mass is zero (such as diving into water) the angular momentum of the body about the center of mass is conserved. In a situation where the torque about the center of mass is non-zero (such as jumping or swinging by one’s hands from a bar), the angular momentum of the body about the center of mass has a rate of change equal to the torque. Based on these principles, as the configuration of the model’s limbs changes, the orientation of the model changes accordingly. Using this model, a software authoring application called Director (by Adobe) was used to program simulations for Physics Curriculum and Instruction. The simulations demonstrate the three above-mentioned activities: diving, swinging, and jumping. A user of this software can determine how the “athlete” will move his joints over a period of time, and the resulting motion of the body is shown.

7:30 p.m., Post-banquet Talk “The Physics of Football” by Timothy Gay, department of physics, University of Nebraska

Gay will discuss a series of one-minute physics lectures given to the 78,000 fans that attend the University of Nebraska home football games. The lecture topics range from gyroscopic motion to ionizing collisions between linebackers and I-backs. The problem of simultaneous edification and amusement of the fan in the stands is considered. Several physics tips for the Crusaders will be proffered.

Oct. 14 - Talks in Haberlin Hall & Swords Hall

10 a.m., Plenary Talk IV “Sport Technology Policy: The Balancing Act” by J. Nadine Gelberg, Get Charged

Technological innovation can reduce costs and injuries, increase participation opportunities, but can also usurp the challenge of the sport, allow the wealthy to buy victories, and transform sport from a contest among athletes to a championship of engineers.

How can we protect our games from becoming futuristic robotic competitions? How can sports organizations encourage the technology that allows sports to grow while protecting the core challenge and tradition of our games? How can we set limits when we do not know from where the next revolutionary technology will emerge?

Gelberg’s talk will explore how sports organizations can write proactive performance standards to allow manufacturers maximum flexibility in design and materials while protecting those skills critical to the sport.

11 a.m., Plenary Talk V “The Physics (and Mathematics) of Sports Records” by Beate Schmittmann, department of physics, Virginia Tech

How are records set and broken? Are there simple mathematical techniques which would help us approach this question? Schmittman will present a simple introduction to the statistics of extreme values. Motivated by an example from sports records, she will discuss the distribution, averages and lifetimes for a simplified model of such “records.” Input data are sequences of independent random numbers all of which are generated from the same probability distribution. A remarkable universality emerges: a number of results, including the lifetime histogram, are universal, that is, independent of the underlying distribution.