Newton’s second law is the acceleration of an object that is dependent upon two variables. It is the net force acting upon the object and the mass object.
The acceleration of an object depends directly upon the net force acting upon the object, and inversely upon the mass of an object. As the force acts upon the object that has increased, the acceleration of the object will increase. As the mass of the object increases, the acceleration of the object will decrease. Newton’s second law is the equation of motion defining the field of dynamics. The equation is often used in physics. What does Newton’s second law mean in sports? In sports, Newton’s second law means the greater the force applied, the greater the acceleration. The more significant mass, the lower your acceleration will be.
A specific sport that Newton’s second law applies too is volleyball. The second law applies when a volleyball player spike’s the ball to their opponent’s court. In order to counteract the opponent’s defense, the volleyball needs to travel at a high velocity. This is where Newton’s second law comes into play, the greater the force the player applies on the ball, the greater the acceleration produced resulting in a higher velocity. As stated before the relationship between force and mass decides the acceleration outcome, this reasoning is why the volleyball is designed to have such a low mass.
The low mass requires less force to produces a higher acceleration, which lowers the strain on the players muscles and joints. Since the arm need to generate the force to accelerate the ball, the lower mass helps reduce the excess force the arm needs to accomplish the same task. This reduction helps prevent injuries on the players joints and muscles. During a spike, there are four different phases. There is the preparation phase, which is the ready position, the approach phase, the jump phase, and the arm swing phase. The spike, itself, consists of five steps which include, 1. the approach, 2. take off (the arm swinging), 3.
the load, 4. follow through, and 5. the landing. During step one and two, both your lower and upper body are in effect. In step three and four, only your upper body is in effect. Step five consist of only your lower body in effect. The lower body consist of your quadriceps, hamstrings, knee joint, ankle joint, gluteus maximus, hip flexors, calf, and your anterior tibial.
The upper body contracts your shoulder joint, shoulder girdle, latissimus dorsi., elbow, trapezius, anterior and posterior deltoids, and your triceps.Five joints are used in a spike.
The joints used are the ankle, elbow, shoulder, hip, and the player’s knee joint. The ankle joint is a diarthrosis joint, synovial condyloid, and biaxial. It carries out the movement such as flexion, extension, and circumduction.
The elbow is a diarthrosis joint, synovial hinge, and uniaxial. The elbow’s actions are flexion and extension. The shoulder joint is a diarthrosis joint as well, but the shoulder has a synovial ball and socket, and is triaxial. The shoulder movements are flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, and arm rotation. The hip is also known as a diarthrosis joint, ball and socket, and triaxial axis. The movements of the hip include flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, and rotation as well. Finally, the knee is also classified as a diarthrosis joint, hinge, and is uniaxial. Flexion and extension are the only movements the knee can do.
During the process of a spike, the volleyball player would jump first. Newton’s second law incorporates with the jump by having force pushed against the ground that provides an equal and opposite force back. Next, we have the arm swing, the arms are pulled back with the elbow and hand at shoulder height. Once the players arms are up in the air, the players are creating a high acceleration to give a greater force when the players hand contacts the ball. The summation of the forces provided, travels through the torso to the shoulders, arms to the wrist until the force is released onto the ball.
The internal rotatory muscles act concentrically during the arm swing while the external rotatory muscles act eccentrically to decelerate. With an increase of motion for the arm swing generates more energy and more force to hit the ball. The contact of the ball should be at the peak of the players jump to gain more power and force to snap your wrist downward into your opponent’s court.
The more joints used when spiking the ball means the more muscles there are to contract force exertion. The mechanical objective is to demonstrate advanced, form, and control when combing and altering movement skills to generate the greatest possible force in each hit. Not only that, but also the accuracy, control, and consistency of a hit. The volleyball player must understand how to move correctly to prevent any injuries. When the volleyball players can move effectively, they are more than likely to have a successful hit each time. One of the forces used in volleyball is line of gravity. This can be shown by portraying a straight line from the center of gravity to the ground (Applying Biomechanics to Sports). A volleyball player must keep a low center of gravity to increase the stability.
This is so they can be able to be more stable when the line of gravity falls through the center of the base of support. This is due to the increase of the distance that the center of gravity can be moved before the players balance gets weak. The line of gravity that moves towards the edge of the base reduces the player’s stability. The greater the area of base support is, the greater the stability (Biomechanics Fundamentals). It’s important to know that just because the body may be stable in one direction doesn’t mean that it will be stable in the other. Momentum is the product of mass and the velocity. Newton’s second law explains that the relationships linking force, mass, and acceleration are linked to momentum.
Hitting the ball hard enough will change the velocity in the blink of an eye. It will have a greater acceleration and will travel further into the opponent’s court. The greater the force the higher acceleration rates. Common errors in a volleyball spike is the player’s footwork.
If you do not have the right footwork, then there can be possible injuries such as an ankle sprain. To get the correct footwork, the player must focus on having the right arm work with the movement of their legs. Another error is the player being too far from the ball and reaching back to spike. This is when the spike will lose its force and won’t accelerate as much. To fix this error, the player must watch their surrounding and know the location of the ball. Lastly, hitters tend to keep hitting balls into the net. This problem has to do with jumping ability, height, and length of the arms.
In this case, the player must improve their jumping skills and focusing on hitting up after contact with the ball.In conclusion, Newton’s Second Law of motion pertains to behavior of objects of all objects which existing forces are not balanced. It is the net force acting upon the object and the mass object.
The acceleration of an object depends directly upon the net force acting upon the object, and inversely upon the mass of an object. Newton’s Second Law is known to be in every sport. In volleyball, Newton’s Second Law is known to be used in spiking along with bumping the ball. As I previously mentioned, before the relationship between force and mass decides the acceleration outcome, this reasoning is why the volleyball is designed to have such a low mass. The low mass requires less force to produces a higher acceleration, which lowers the strain on the players muscles and joints. Like in any sport, there can be common errors.
The minor errors can easily be fixed. The athletes first needs to understand what they are doing wrong, and with the help of understanding Newton’s Second Law, the player can easily improve their volleyball skills.
