The Physics in Volleyball

Tayler Glazier

History of Volleyball

• Volleyball was invented by William Morgan in 1895 in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
• Morgan wanted a sport that anyone could play no matter the disability, age or gender. Morgan actually created the idea of volleyball by incorporating aspects of handball, tennis, and badminton.
• Morgan created the first two teams of five men to demonstrate the sport at Springfield college.
• On February 9th, 1895, Morgan presented it to the world.
• The goal of the game is to keep the ball going on both sides. If it falls on one side, the ogher side gets the point.

William Morgan

This is William Morgan

Creator of Volleyball

The Volleyball Court

Vocabulary

• Power: The rate in which work is done. (Commonly measured in watts). This formula is used to determine the power that is used: Power= w/t (W)
• Gravity: The force between two objects or masses.
• Newton’s Laws: Newton’s laws describes the physics behind anything and everything.
• -Newton’s First Law: The first law describes that an object that is not in motion will remain this way until acted upon by a force. When an object is in motion, it will not stop until acted upon by a force.
• -Newton’s Second Law: The second law states that an object accelerates depending on mass and force.
• -Newton’s Third Law: The third law states that when one object hits another object at a certain speed, they both accelerate in opposite directions.

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Vocabulary Continued

• Speed- How fast an object is traveling at a certain rate.
• Velocity- Speed in a certain direction.
• Acceleration- How quickly you change your speed.
• Force- The amount of energy that is applied.
• Work: How much energy is actually being used. (The transfer of energy from one object to another). This formula determines the amount of work that is used F=force D=distance FxD=J
• Simple Machine: wedge, pulley, gear, wheel and axle, inclined plane, lever, screw.
• Friction- When two objects rub against each other causing them to either speed up or slow down.
• Rolling Friction: is caused when an object rolls down something like a hill or road; when an object partakes in a circular motion.
• Static Friction: When an object pushes against another object but does not move.
• Fluid Friction: Friction that takes place in the air (air resistance) or water.
• Sliding Friction: When an object slides against a surface.

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How is Velocity Related to Volleyball

• The players must use velocity in order to move the ball to where they want it to go
• For example the outside hitter needs to hit the ball in a certain spot, they have to angle their swing to that spot and hit at a certain speed.
• When you are trying to pass the ball, you have pass it to the setter which is found in the front right corner. They also have to pass the ball at a certain height.
• The Setter has to set the ball to either the outside, middle, or rightside hitter, this requires them to push it at a certain speed. You usually want a set to be slow in order for the hitter to get into their position.

How is Volleyball Related to Acceleration

• Acceleration is used when the hitter comes from the 10 foot line, has to jump in order to hit the ball. This happens in a matter of seconds so the speed increases in a matter of seconds.
• The setter uses acceleration from running around the court almost the entire game changing their speed from where they need to be.
• The libero also has to run across court and then reposition in order to get the ball to the setter.

Friction, Force, Gravity

• Fluid Friction
• Slow down the ball in order to hit the ground quicker
• Top spin serves require a flick of your wrist causing the ball to skim over the net
• Friction between the floor and your feet so you so slip everywhere
• Force
• You have to apply a certain amount of force to get the ball where it needs to go
• Gravity
• Keeps the ball from going everywhere
• Pulls the ball towards the ground

This shows acceleration of the libero moving from the 1 to the 6 so that she can make a play. This also shows a hitter accelerating when doing their approach.

Newton’s First Law

• “An object at rest will stay at rest, and an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.”
• This is observed whenever a serve is missed and the ball goes into the net and falls to the ground
• When a blocker blocks the ball causing it to go back to the opposing side
• Forearm of a pass because it is changing the direction of the volleyball

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Newton’s Second Law

• " The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net external force acting on the object and inversely proportional to the mass of the object."
• Spiked volleyball creates a net force that stings once touched by the skin
• Harder the hit the harder the acceleration

Newton’s Third Law

• " For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."
• When a hit ball hits the blocker’s hands
• When a ball hits the ground and bounces back its because the force is greater than the ball’s tolerance

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Simple Machines in Volleyball

• Pulleys
• Setting up the net
• Levers
• Your arm acts as a lever when you hit o you serve the ball
• Work
• The force would be the player
• Example
• “ If a volleyball player were to travel 3m with a force of 15N the work will be 45J. To determine the power you must use the formula W/T. If the player is using 45J for 5 seconds then the power used would be 9W.”
• http://www.slideserve.com/mohawk/the-physics-of-volleyball

Average Speed

• Speed = distance / time
• In order to measure this in volleyball it would be
• Time of the athlete
• Distance the athlete traveled

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Conclusion

As you can see, physics has a lot to do with volleyball.

• Velocity
• Friction
• Force
• Gravity
• Acceleration
• Newton’s Three Laws of Motion

All have something to do with volleyball. There are so many techniques that you have to work on and when you begin playing you begin to understand how physics plays a role in volleyball.

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Bibliography

• "FIVB - VOLLEYBALL." FIVB - VOLLEYBALL. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2016.

<http://www.fivb.org/en/volleyball/History.asp>.

• "Physics Of Volleyball." Real World Physics Problems. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2016.

<http://www.real-world-physics-problems.com/physics-of-volleyball.html>.

• "Volleyball and Physics." The Science of Volleyball. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2016.

<http://volleyballscience.weebly.com/volleyball-and-physics.html>.

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