Physics in Football
Seeming like such a simple game, one may not think physics plays a main part in football. Even though coaches do not necessarily teach physics like how we learn it in our classroom, they teach their players how to use physics to their advantage.
"The low man wins"
If you were to go to football practices all over the country, one thing you are guaranteed to hear is that the "low man wins". Being an offensive lineman, I constantly am trying to stay as low as possible to beat my man. What does being "low" constitute and why do many offensive lineman try to use it.
When I first watched football, I would never understand why these 6'7" 325Lb. giants were slouched over, almost half of their height. I never understood why they weren't using their height to their advantage. They slouch over and stay low to move their center of mass closer to the ground. This will give them more of a base to stand on and allow them to absorb a harder hit.
When an offensive lineman slouches over, he is able to lower his center of mass to be closer to the ground. A lineman or a running back, when they have a low center of mass, need a massive force to move them. The higher the center of mass, the less force an opponent has to put onto the lineman. When lineman, and even running backs, lower their shoulders and slouch their upper body, they brace for impact and try to sustain and power through a massive force.
Another factor that is at play when tackling and blocking in football is torque. When a player gets hit, if it is just a little bit off of the center of mass, a torque is applied.
We know torque is R x F, which is the radius cross product of the force. When a torque is applied a runner will often spin off either getting knocked to the ground or be able to sustain it and keep going.
In this video, the running back hits the whole is running straight up the middle of the field. The safety comes in and goes for the tackle. Running at full speed, the safety lowers his shoulders and dives for the tackle. He slightly misses off to the right of the runner. This applies a torque on the runner, making him spin to the left. The running back spins off the tackle and runs for a touchdown.
"The low man wins"
If you were to go to football practices all over the country, one thing you are guaranteed to hear is that the "low man wins". Being an offensive lineman, I constantly am trying to stay as low as possible to beat my man. What does being "low" constitute and why do many offensive lineman try to use it.
When I first watched football, I would never understand why these 6'7" 325Lb. giants were slouched over, almost half of their height. I never understood why they weren't using their height to their advantage. They slouch over and stay low to move their center of mass closer to the ground. This will give them more of a base to stand on and allow them to absorb a harder hit.
When an offensive lineman slouches over, he is able to lower his center of mass to be closer to the ground. A lineman or a running back, when they have a low center of mass, need a massive force to move them. The higher the center of mass, the less force an opponent has to put onto the lineman. When lineman, and even running backs, lower their shoulders and slouch their upper body, they brace for impact and try to sustain and power through a massive force.
Another factor that is at play when tackling and blocking in football is torque. When a player gets hit, if it is just a little bit off of the center of mass, a torque is applied.
We know torque is R x F, which is the radius cross product of the force. When a torque is applied a runner will often spin off either getting knocked to the ground or be able to sustain it and keep going.
In this video, the running back hits the whole is running straight up the middle of the field. The safety comes in and goes for the tackle. Running at full speed, the safety lowers his shoulders and dives for the tackle. He slightly misses off to the right of the runner. This applies a torque on the runner, making him spin to the left. The running back spins off the tackle and runs for a touchdown.
Many people often see pure strength as being most important than calculated smaller hits. In football, often times the physics behind a hit makes more of an impact than the force behind the hit.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Freudenrich, Craig. “How the Physics of Football Works.” HowStuffWorks, HowStuffWorks, 1 Apr. 2001,
entertainment.howstuffworks.com/physics-of-football5.htm.
National Science Federation, director. Science of NFL Football. Torque, NFL, www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4h4t0Q1I2s.
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