So, I watched the Sunderland-Liverpool match in the English Premier League on Saturday morning. (I like to write my student comments in front of sports on TV.) Just a few minutes into the game, Sunderland scored a strange goal. Watch -- there's a real physics purpose here...
[Edit: Looks like the EPL removed this video from youtube. I'm sure you can find it somewhere... it's fantastic.]
[To summarize: A Sunderland striker executed a shot on goal from about 15 yards out. The shot hit a red beach ball-type object and deflected at an angle; an easy save for the Liverpool goalkeeper turned into the deciding goal in the1-0 match.]
The commentators originally called the unusual red object on the pitch a "balloon." I wrote some sports-related commentary on this event on my sports blog, "Nachoman's Baseball." But imagine the physics possibilities here...
The assignment, which I will use as an independent experiment in the spring in AP physics, is: Determine the mass of the balloon / beach ball / whatever that caused the goal.
GCJ
It's back. Just search Liverpool + Sunderland + Beach Ball + Goal.
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