The Physics of Gymnastics
The purpose of this project was to create a video describing the physics behind a sports action. Tony, Eryk, Matt, and I started by discussing sports actions that would be interesting to research. We finally decided on gymnastics. We chose a skill called a Tsukahara, which is a move on vault. We then started making calculations based on a ruff cut video. Next we videoed me performing the skill and Matt talking about the calculations. Finally we edited the video clips we had and made our final video.
Physics Concepts
Speed- Speed is how fast something is moving. It is calculated by dividing distance by time. (s=d/t) We used speed in our project while finding how fast my run was.
Velocity- Velocity is speed together with the direction of motion. Velocity is calculated by dividing distance by time. (v=d/t) We used this to find the speed of the run and flip.
Acceleration- Acceleration is the rate at which velocity is changing. It is calculated by dividing the change in velocity by the change in time. (A=change in v/change in t) We used this to find the deceleration of my run into my flip.
Projectile Motion- Projectile motion is when something is moving through the air and is acted on by gravity. Projectile motion consists of horizontal and vertical velocity. However these two velocities have no effect oneachother. Horizontal velocity stays the same throughout the time the object is in the air. To find the total velocity you must find the hypotenuse. To do this you use the equation a^2 +b^2=c^2.
Impact Forces- This is calculated by dividing the momentum by the time. (F=mv/t) The unit used is Newtons.
Force- A force is a push or pull. Force is calculated by multiplying mass by acceleration. (F=ma) We used this to find the force of my handson the vault table.
Velocity- Velocity is speed together with the direction of motion. Velocity is calculated by dividing distance by time. (v=d/t) We used this to find the speed of the run and flip.
Acceleration- Acceleration is the rate at which velocity is changing. It is calculated by dividing the change in velocity by the change in time. (A=change in v/change in t) We used this to find the deceleration of my run into my flip.
Projectile Motion- Projectile motion is when something is moving through the air and is acted on by gravity. Projectile motion consists of horizontal and vertical velocity. However these two velocities have no effect oneachother. Horizontal velocity stays the same throughout the time the object is in the air. To find the total velocity you must find the hypotenuse. To do this you use the equation a^2 +b^2=c^2.
Impact Forces- This is calculated by dividing the momentum by the time. (F=mv/t) The unit used is Newtons.
Force- A force is a push or pull. Force is calculated by multiplying mass by acceleration. (F=ma) We used this to find the force of my handson the vault table.
Reflection
During this project I enjoyed being able to focus on a more unique sports action. It was interesting learning about how everything works and how physics plays a big role in every sport. Our group did a good job with solving problems. For example one camera was not working, so I decided to ask my coach if i could just use his camera. One thing i learned from doing this project was how to do the basic editing of a video. I also learned how to upload a video to youtube. One thing that was challenging for our group was getting along and cooperating well with eachother. One other thing we had trouble with was listening to everybodies ideas and taking them into consideration. We could also still work on our time management. One thing we could improve in our process for making the video would be staying on task at all times. One other improvemment that could be made would be making the calculations before videoing and editing. Overall i think our group produced a pretty good video, but of course there is always room for improvement.