The data is in the process of analysis. Conclusions are pending the completion of the data analysis.

Data and Results

Eric Gibble Cristobal Palmer
13-Mar-01
Properties of the soccer kick
Scale Factor for photo (in pixels) Using the diameter of the ball
File horizontal veritcal diameter
124-75-10.psd vertical 0 89 89
horizontal 87 0 87
slant 1 65 62 89.82761268
slant 2 -65 59 87.78382539
Average: 88.40285952
File horizontal vertical diameter
113-75-10.psd vertical 0 89 89
horizontal 88 0 88
slant 1 60 66 89.19641248
slant 2 -67 55 86.68333173
Average: 88.21993605
File horizontal vertical diameter
101-75-10 vertical 0 87 87
horizontal 85 0 85
slant 1 -65 60 88.45903006
slant 2 71 55 89.81091248
Average: 87.56748564
Actual Diameter of Soccer Ball (in meters)
diameter 1 0.21
diameter 2 0.211
Average: 0.2105
Scale Factor: Avg. dia.(pixels) Actual(m)/Image(pix)
File
213-70-10W 100.205 0.002100694
162-75-10S 86.59 0.002430997
CH12-70-10W 98.85 0.002129489
CH31-70-10S 86.09 0.002445116
mass of ball (kg)
0.429
File Time (s) H(pix) V(pix) D(pix) D(real) Velocity(m/s) momentum (kg*m/s) mass of leg
Wide Stance if momentum is conserved
213-70-10W 0.02 68 111 130.17 0.273447283 13.67236415
0.01 37 55 66.29 0.139254977 13.92549773
13.79893094 ball 5.919741374
0.01 62.43 0.1311463 13.11463001 leg after collision 6.109471545
this value is closer to the "truth"
0.02 129 4 129.06 0.271115513 13.55577566
0.02 136 13 136.62 0.286996757 14.34983783
0.02 135 7 135.18 0.283971758 14.19858789
0.01 67 10 67.74 0.142300983 14.2300983
14.08357492 leg before collision 0.420329455
Shooters' Stance
162-75-10S 0.02 118 67 135.69 0.329861936 16.49309678 the value to the left is wrong because it
0.01 58 34 67.23 0.163435905 16.34359048 assumes that P of ball after collision=P of leg
16.41834363 ball 7.043469418 before collision but this ignores P
of leg after collision.
0.02 113 57 126.56 0.307666936 15.38334681
0.02 124 45 131.91 0.320672768 16.03363841
0.02 125 44 132.52 0.322155676 16.10778381
15.84158968 leg before collision 0.444618852
0.01 54 32 62.77 0.15259366 15.25936598
0.01 57 32 65.37 0.158914251 15.89142511
15.57539554 leg after collision 26.45989726
Palmer
Wide Stance
CH12-70-10W 0.02 178 28 180.19 0.383712645 19.18563227
0.02 180 24 181.59 0.38669393 19.33469651
0.03 259 43 262.54 0.559076075 18.63586916
0.03 259 48 263.41 0.56092873 18.69762435
18.96345557 ball 8.135322441
0.03 189.53 0.403602074 13.45340246 leg after collision 5.004781441
0.01 47 35 58.6 0.124788063 12.47880627 This makes sense
0.01 57 40 69.63 0.148276328 14.82763278 considering my leg would
0.01 49 37 61.4 0.130750632 13.07506323 have less mass than Eric's
0.01 79 16 80.6 0.171636823 17.16368235
0.01 80 25 83.82 0.178493778 17.84937785
15.07891249 leg before collision
Shooters' Stance 0.02 133 28 135.92 0.332340109 16.61700546
CH31-70-10S 0.02 138 34 142.13 0.347524277 17.37621385
0.02 137 31 140.46 0.343440934 17.1720467
17.05508867 ball 7.316633038
0.01 41 31 51.4 0.125678941 12.56789406
0.01 43 26 50.25 0.122867058 12.28670577
12.42729992 leg after collision 2.083806755
0.02 126 45 133.79 0.327132013 16.35660065
0.02 114 54 126.14 0.308426879 15.42134394
0.02 120 53 131.18 0.320750261 16.03751307
15.93848589 leg before collision

 

Analysis and Discussion

When we began this investigation, we hoped to find clearly that one kicking position allowed the shooter to kick the ball harder. That is, we thought that a "Shooters’ Stance" would make the ball go faster after being kicked. At first we did find this to be the case. When Eric kicked the ball, it went faster when it was placed closer to his plant foot (Shooters’ Stance), but with Cristóbal we found that he could make the ball go faster if we placed the ball further from his plant foot (Wide Stance).

We had to determine the scale factor of the actual ball to the ball in the picture in order to find the velocity values. We did this by measuring the diameter of the ball and then finding the average diameter of the ball (in pixels) in each picture. We then measured how much the ball had moved (in pixels) from one flash to the next, and since the flashes were at regular time intervals, we were able to use this data to determine the actual velocity of the ball.

We then found the mass of the ball using a balance scale, and we used this mass value to calculate the momentum of the ball after being kicked in each of the four photographs we analyzed. Since the mass of the ball never changed, the faster-moving shots had more momentum.

Assuming that momentum is conserved in the collision of the leg and the ball, the following must be true:

Piball + Pileg = Pfball + Pfleg

Since the ball was stationary before the collision, Piball is zero, so the equation simplifies to:

Pileg = Pfball + Pfleg

Pileg - Pfleg = Pfball

Mleg = Pfball / (Vileg – Vfleg)

In this way we calculated the mass of the leg involved in the collision. By looking at the equation we can come to two conclusions: the more mass involved, 1. the greater the momentum imparted into the ball and 2. the less the velocity of the leg changes from before to after the ball is kicked.

This equation also provided us with a convenient reality check, since Cristóbal’s leg is less massive than Eric’s. We did find that the data reflected this, but the masses given by the equation varied considerably, especially in the case of Eric’s Shooters’ Stance kick. We had been getting leg mass values of two, five and six kilograms, but that picture resulted in a value of 26 kilograms for the mass of Eric’s leg. Oddly enough, this was not the picture that gave us the fastest final velocity for the ball.

This inconsistency either indicates that our method lacked precision, or that the relationship between the stance taken and the momentum transferred to the ball is not what we thought at all.

There were several factors that we were not able to consider. Two major ones were the fact that the path of the leg is an arc and not a line, and the fact that the ball is spinning after it is kicked. We know, for example, that some of the momentum of the foot went into making the ball spin, so the equations we used above are flawed. Also, what part of the leg should be tracked when finding velocity? Since the path is an arc, the outermost part (the toe) will be going fastest, but the toe is not representative of the part of the leg that is taking part in the collision.

 

 

Introduction/Goals

Setup

Procedure

Pictures Capture and Analysis Discussion and Results
Conclusion Home To NCSSM HSI Website