Air Pressure in Footballs

What is the relationship between feedback from air pressure of a football to the

performance of a athlete?

Alex Long

Purpose

The purpose for my experiment is to work out scientifically whether the air pressure

inside a football effects the performance of a sports performer. There are several

different types and brands of footballs all with different structures and pressure

recommended for the ball. It would be interesting to find out the differences between

the different companies and whether the air pressure inside makes a big difference in

improving performance.

Hypothesis

My expected results from my experiments to answer the question is that the air pressure

which will be best for performance will be around the recommended air pressure but

slightly lower as I think that through personal experience to is easier to
kick a flatter ball

than it is to kick a very hard ball. I think that the most interesting part of the experiment is

to see whether different air pressure in different brands of football make a huge amount

of difference because the balls could all basically the same with just a logo stuck on the

front of the ball.

The Experiment

Independent- what I am changing:

I am changing the air pressure between the experiments and I will be changing the

brand of football.

Dependent- what I am measuring:

The performance of a performer while kicking a ball with different air pressures inside.

Controlled- what is staying the same:

I will keep the same pump and pressure gauge so that I have the same readings. The

air temperature in the room and also the altitude I carry out the experiment. Finally I will

also keep the same athlete to under take every exercise.

Material and Apparatus

– 1x Sports Hall

– 3 different types of footballs

– 1x Pump with a pressure gauge

– 1x Athlete

– 1x Thermometer

– 1x Football goals

– 1x Stopwatch

– 25 Cones

Method

1)Set out 3 challenges for the Athlete to complete

2)The first will be to kick the ball from a cone 12 steps from a football goal and the have to hit cones either corner of the goal.

3)The second will be a dribbling exercise to test the players control on the ball. 10 cones will be set up in a line each one foot in front of each other and the player has to slalom through them.

4)The third and final test will test the control of the player. I will through the ball into the air and get them to control it on their chest and pass in through two cones which are 2 steps away from each other. The player will stand 10 steps away from the cones.

5)For each test I will record how many times they complete the task out of 10 attempts.

6)Finally I will repeat this with each ball and at the different air pressures. I will have a base test at the recommend psi the ball manufacture gives.

7)After this all completed I will ask the athlete which he felt was better to get this feedback on the balls and the air pressure