Biomechanics
Uploaded by 8drian on Jul 19, 2007
1. Newton’s three laws of motion
A. Inertia- An object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by a net force.
B. F=ma Force=Mass x Acceleration
C. To every action force there is an equal and opposite reaction force.
(BGS Junior Science Booklet, 2007)
2. Newton’s Laws and how they relate to golf and lawn bowl
Newton’s first law explains that a stationary object will not move unless acted upon by a net force.
Newton’s second law is a formula that relates force to mass and acceleration.
Newton’s third law is quite complicated but can be shortened to: for every force, there are actually two opposite forces.
Newton’s laws of motion play an important role in sports like lawn bowls and golf. Newton’s first law on inertia explains that the ball will not move by itself if no force is exerted. This is why a player must apply force to the ball for it to move like in these two sports. This leads to the second law. The force on the ball is equal to the mass multiplied by the acceleration. This means that for the ball to move with more force, it means that the ball must be moving at a faster speed. However, there must be stability in this force or else the ball will move too fast or slow and miss the target. The final law explains that when a force is exerted on the ball, there is actually an equal force exerted on the hand or golf club. When you push the ball, the ball pushes you with the same opposite force.
3. How physics affects my performance
Trajectory, stability, momentum and force impacts greatly on lawn bowling and golf. This is because applying a force to an object is the main point of the games. In lawn bowls, the player must apply the right force on the ball to give it the right trajectory as it rolls in a curved course to the jack. This is quite similar to golf. In golf, the player has to give the ball the right momentum so that it can move in the right trajectory as it flies into the hole.
These four factors are very important and immensely affects my performance. This is because if I don’t understand these factors, my ability will not be great. There is always a specific trajectory that the ball must follow for it to meet the target in both golf and bowls. In golf, hitting...