Physics Concepts Demonstrated in Real Life

This weekend, I observed many different accounts of physics at work!

At the football game vs. Ironwood Ridge I observed the concepts of position,velocity, and acceleration.

At one point the ball started on the 30 yd. The quarterback handed off the ball to a running back who then scored a touchdown. This represents initial and final position. The player started on the 30 yd. line and ended past the 0 yd line. A great example of acceleration during the game was when one of our defensive players ran to catch a nighthawk player before he crossed the end zone for a touchdown. Everyone in the stands thought that Ironwood was for sure going to score a touchdown when one of their players made a break. But our player had a faster acceleration, or change in velocity. Our player started on the line with a velocity of zero, then when Ironwood made the break he accelerated from this initial position and caught the player right in time around the 4 yd line. The ironwood player had a negative acceleration. After the ball was passed to him he speed up hoping to catch a break and run the field, but as time went on he became tired and his velocity slowed down; which ultimately helped our player catch him. Velocity was also demonstrated during one of the punts during the game. When the ball left the punter's foot, it was moving with a given velocity depending upon the force at which he kicked the ball at. If I had recorded how far the ball traveled and how long it was in the air for we could preform calculations on initial and final velocity and acceleration. The football game was a great example of physics concepts at work.