I am an Asheville School tracklete and have competed in long jump, triple jump, discus, shot put and various sprints. In order to better improve my performance and compete more efficiently, I often use laws and concepts of physics. (Rotational inertia) My favorite event to compete in is the discus throw. The discus throw relies on rotational inertia. In order to stay under control in the early spin phase I extend my leg out far when spinning. The leg extension changes the distribution of my mass over my center of rotation and this increases rotational inertia so I can enter the spin in more control. In the second phase in which I throw, I pull my leg inwards so my rotational inertia decreases causing a quicker rotation, allowing me to get off a harder throw.
(Center of gravity/base of support) When sprinting I want to be able to accelerate as quickly and much as possible. So to increase the quickness of my acceleration I use block starts. Block starts are tilted steps that put your center of gravity over your base of support. This allows you to start moving because you will feel the force of falling due to your COG being over you BOS, and this force of falling will propel you forward much faster than starting while standing up.
(Falling objects) When competing in the long jump you want to run and jump as far into the pit as you can. But what controls how long you are able to carry that force from running into the air is height. Height controls how long you will stay in the air an fly forward into the pit. So as I learned early on, I would need to jump a high as I possible could so I could have more time in the air to collect more distance into the pit. So instead of focusing on horizontal distance I focused on vertical distance and this improved my jumps significantly.
(Projectile Motion) When throwing an object it will maintain the same horizontal speed but will have a changing vertical speed. Which is why it is important to get as much force behind a shot put when throwing. The perfect angle to throw a shot is 45 degrees and you want to get strong horizontal speed behind it so It is able to cover the greatest amount of distance possible before it hits the ground
Here is a picture/gif of how a shot put should look while in air.
(Kinetic Energy) I never competed in the pole vault but I understand how the concepts of physics rules the sport. In pole vault you want to run as fast as possible to create a large amount of kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is .5mass x velocity^2. The mass is the pole vaulter and the velocity is how fast you run up. Using this equation we find that the faster you run, the higher the kinetic energy and kinetic energy transforms into potential energy which is connected to height, so the more the kinetic energy, the more the potential and therefore the higher you go.
(Newton's 3rd Law) Each action has an equal and opposite reaction. When sprinting you want to drive far as fast as possible. And when running we push the grounds backwards and the ground pushes us forwards. So to sprint fast we must push the ground fast and hard so that the ground pushes us back fast and hard forwardly. So sprinters when running, run very hard on the ground in order to utilize newton's 3rd law and receive a strong fast reaction to push them fast.
(Power) High jump also relies on the physics concept of power. Power is work over time. And work is force x distance, but in the case of jumping the distance put in isn't to important to the application of physics. In order to create a mass amount of power to launch oneself into the air, they must apply a huge amount of force over a tiny time period. And when high jumping you want to run up and gain strength, drive that strength hard into the ground in a very quick time interval so that your power in that split second is greater than your weight which will launch you in the air. Here is a video explaining this process...
(Axis of rotation) A high jumper also must be conscious of their axis of rotation while in air. If their axis of rotation is over the bar you can't jump over it, the video highlights the importance of keeping your axis of rotation under the bar to keep you from crashing into the bar. You can do this by arching your back.
(Torque) When running we all pump our arms right leg-left arm and left arm -right leg. We do this because bringing our leg up creates a torque and we balance this torque out with lifting our opposite arm. Tracks are rounded so while running the curve we have to adjust our direction to stay in the lanes and in order to maintain equilibrium in this action, we lean our torso towards the curve. All of these motions counteract the torque.
(Friction) To move anywhere there must be friction. If surfaces were frictionless there could be no self propelled movement. So if friction helps create movement, a lot of friction must create faster movement. This is why I wear spikes. Spikes allow me to create a lot of friction with the ground and move quickly because of it. The friction keeps you stable and the spikes keep you on your toes, and when on your toes running you are leaning forward keeping your center of mass over your base of support giving you a stronger force in the forward direction.
(Center of gravity/base of support) When sprinting I want to be able to accelerate as quickly and much as possible. So to increase the quickness of my acceleration I use block starts. Block starts are tilted steps that put your center of gravity over your base of support. This allows you to start moving because you will feel the force of falling due to your COG being over you BOS, and this force of falling will propel you forward much faster than starting while standing up.
(Falling objects) When competing in the long jump you want to run and jump as far into the pit as you can. But what controls how long you are able to carry that force from running into the air is height. Height controls how long you will stay in the air an fly forward into the pit. So as I learned early on, I would need to jump a high as I possible could so I could have more time in the air to collect more distance into the pit. So instead of focusing on horizontal distance I focused on vertical distance and this improved my jumps significantly.
(Projectile Motion) When throwing an object it will maintain the same horizontal speed but will have a changing vertical speed. Which is why it is important to get as much force behind a shot put when throwing. The perfect angle to throw a shot is 45 degrees and you want to get strong horizontal speed behind it so It is able to cover the greatest amount of distance possible before it hits the ground
Here is a picture/gif of how a shot put should look while in air.(Kinetic Energy) I never competed in the pole vault but I understand how the concepts of physics rules the sport. In pole vault you want to run as fast as possible to create a large amount of kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is .5mass x velocity^2. The mass is the pole vaulter and the velocity is how fast you run up. Using this equation we find that the faster you run, the higher the kinetic energy and kinetic energy transforms into potential energy which is connected to height, so the more the kinetic energy, the more the potential and therefore the higher you go.
(Newton's 3rd Law) Each action has an equal and opposite reaction. When sprinting you want to drive far as fast as possible. And when running we push the grounds backwards and the ground pushes us forwards. So to sprint fast we must push the ground fast and hard so that the ground pushes us back fast and hard forwardly. So sprinters when running, run very hard on the ground in order to utilize newton's 3rd law and receive a strong fast reaction to push them fast.
(Power) High jump also relies on the physics concept of power. Power is work over time. And work is force x distance, but in the case of jumping the distance put in isn't to important to the application of physics. In order to create a mass amount of power to launch oneself into the air, they must apply a huge amount of force over a tiny time period. And when high jumping you want to run up and gain strength, drive that strength hard into the ground in a very quick time interval so that your power in that split second is greater than your weight which will launch you in the air. Here is a video explaining this process...
(Axis of rotation) A high jumper also must be conscious of their axis of rotation while in air. If their axis of rotation is over the bar you can't jump over it, the video highlights the importance of keeping your axis of rotation under the bar to keep you from crashing into the bar. You can do this by arching your back.
(Torque) When running we all pump our arms right leg-left arm and left arm -right leg. We do this because bringing our leg up creates a torque and we balance this torque out with lifting our opposite arm. Tracks are rounded so while running the curve we have to adjust our direction to stay in the lanes and in order to maintain equilibrium in this action, we lean our torso towards the curve. All of these motions counteract the torque.
(Friction) To move anywhere there must be friction. If surfaces were frictionless there could be no self propelled movement. So if friction helps create movement, a lot of friction must create faster movement. This is why I wear spikes. Spikes allow me to create a lot of friction with the ground and move quickly because of it. The friction keeps you stable and the spikes keep you on your toes, and when on your toes running you are leaning forward keeping your center of mass over your base of support giving you a stronger force in the forward direction.
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