DailyDirt: Having A Ball
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Maybe you've been following a sport called football (not soccer!) recently. You wouldn't be alone. The World Cup has an audience size of nearly a billion people, roughly nine times the audience that watches the Super Bowl (or the whatever-you're-allowed-to-call-it "big game"). But for those of you not really interested in watching these- Soccer ball designs have changed quite a bit since the 1920s. The Telstar Durlast ball from the 1970 World Cup is the buckyball shape that was designed to be more visible on black & white TVs. The newest ball designs have far fewer panels and seams, and they need to be tested to make sure the aerodynamics aren't too different from previous balls. [url]
- The first basketball was actually a soccer ball. Before the 1940s, the technology to make an inflatable ball without laces didn't exist, so it wasn't until after basketballs could be molded for a smooth surface (without laces), that dribbling became a major part of the sport. [url]
- A completely smooth golf ball would travel only about half as far as golf ball with dimples. The dimples create a turbulent boundary layer of air around the ball, and the effect can produce additional lift, depending on how the ball is hit. [url]
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Filed Under: aerodynamics, basketball, design, football, golf, soccer, sports, super bowl, world cup
Reader Comments
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The US, Canada, and Australia use "soccer." "Football" seems to be the non-english term.
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Re: American Football
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Re: Re: American Football
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needs more vuvuzela's!
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