The Physics of Tennis

Hi everyone

just about to start an a level course in physics and have been set some homework as preparation

Write about all the physics involved in tennis and how advances in technology have improved the sport etc and possible improvements in the future

i have not studied physics for months so dont know where to start

any ideas

thanks

Reply 1

schrodinger's cat

13

bonbon

Hi everyone

just about to start an a level course in physics and have been set some homework as preparation

Write about all the physics involved in tennis and how advances in technology have improved the sport etc and possible improvements in the future

i have not studied physics for months so dont know where to start

any ideas

thanks

I don't know about advances in technology that have helped (i know little about the sport) but here are some terms that i think would be important in comprehensively describing the Physics involved in tennis that you should research.

Conservation of Energy, Conservation of momentum, inelastic collisions, projectiles (if you want to show the trajectory mathematically [e.g. M2 Edexcel]), coefficient of restitution, Newton's laws of motion... and probably some more that you might think about or come across whilst researching.

Bare in mind that some (if not most) you are not meant to know about with just GCSE knowledge, so perhaps you are meant to focus on the second part more, or just go very briefly into the topics.

*please don't just put each of those topics as headings and copy a small paragraph for each and have that as your project. Preferably get a nice large A-Level text book and research these terms and read around them as well*

Reply 2

Creative

10

Ya forgot air resistance, temperature (has an effect on playing surface and ball elasticity), also string tension :wink:

.

Reply 3

Audrey Hepburn

12

Gwavity makade ball fall downded :proud:

Reply 4

Creative

10

Audrey Hepburn

Gwavity makade ball fall downded :proud:

..covered by projectiles :p:

.

Reply 5

Audrey Hepburn

12

Creative

..covered by projectiles :p:

.

Reply 6

schrodinger's cat

13

Creative

..covered by projectiles :p:

.

I was gonna try and claim that air resistance was too :ninja:

Okay... well i didn't say the list was comprehensive :p:

(well actually i did use that word :o:

)

Reply 7

Creative

10

schrodinger's cat

I was gonna try and claim that air resistance was too :ninja:

Okay... well i didn't say the list was comprehensive :p:

(well actually i did use that word :o:

)

That's ok, I wouldn't have gotten half the things you mentioned :p:

.. tennis is way to complicated... the US open starts tomorrow though, giving me the opportunity to brush up on my physics :biggrin:

.

Reply 8

crypt0r

1

The biggest area technology has improved the sport, lighter and stronger rackets meaning players can hit the ball harder as they dont have the get through the larger amount of inertia the wooden rackets had. Also I dont think it has been mentioned, reflection (think of the ball as light and the racket as a mirror).

Reply 9

RyanT

15

Playing surface? Could describe why they are different.

Reply 10

Speedbird2008

3

Audrey Hepburn

Gwavity makade ball fall downded :proud:

Reply 11

MC REN

14

Magnus effect is quite interesting, look into that

Reply 12

Drummy

10

you will have done stuff about momentum and collisions.

How does this apply when the racket hits the ball?

Reply 13

harr

15

crypt0r

The biggest area technology has improved the sport, lighter and stronger rackets meaning players can hit the ball harder as they dont have the get through the larger amount of inertia the wooden rackets had.

Continuing on the racket theme, you could also talk about stiffness, string tension and string type. Racket head size has also changed significantly over time due to the use of lighter, stronger materials. A very brief history of rackets can be found here.

Reply 14

bruceleej

2

crypt0r

The biggest area technology has improved the sport, lighter and stronger rackets meaning players can hit the ball harder as they dont have the get through the larger amount of inertia the wooden rackets had. Also I dont think it has been mentioned, reflection (think of the ball as light and the racket as a mirror).

Also, there are rackets with some sort of 'shock absorbing' technology takes the strain of the wrist.
The ball is fluffed-up to increase wind resistance and ball control thus reducing ball speed and bouciness.

Reply 15

Spire

In addition to what everyone else said, you could talk about the Bernoulli Effect- which is basically to do with spin. For example, if you hit a topspin forehand, the ball will dip down faster as there's another force (in addition to gravity) acting downwards as well.

Reply 16

harr

15

Spire

In addition to what everyone else said, you could talk about the Bernoulli Effect- which is basically to do with spin. For example, if you hit a topspin forehand, the ball will dip down faster as there's another force (in addition to gravity) acting downwards as well.

It would be more usual to talk about the Magnus effect when explaining the effects of spin.