Better Playing through Science
A Launching
Pad for Sports
When
you swing at a baseball or softball, you're probably
not worrying about the aerodynamic performance of
your bat. When you ride your bike, the exact position
of your body might not be your greatest concern. And
when you hit a hard return on the tennis court, you
may not give a second thought to the materials used
in your tennis racket.
But there's a place at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where researchers are giving these issues plenty of thought. What is MIT—a world leader in studying aeronautics, computer science, and bioengineering—doing for the world of sports?
Building 17 on the MIT campus blends into a cluster of buildings, all of which look like old factories. The Laboratory for Sports Innovation and its director, Dr. Kim Blair, can be found on the second floor.
This
laboratory is one of dozens at MIT dedicated to the
study of everything from biomedical engineering to
high-speed computing. It is also the new kid on the
block. It opened last August as part of the university's
Aeronautics and Astronautics department, which usually
trains engineers and scientists for the aviation and
space industry. And it focuses on an area you might
not associate with a university known for its scientific
accomplishments.
"There has actually been a lot of research on sports products here," Blair explains. "We have a faculty member who's been doing research on tennis rackets for over 20 years. Our department head helped develop a way of controlling downhill skis that is now being marketed by ski manufacturers."
Blair adds that improving sports equipment and performance is a natural extension of what the Aeronautics and Astronautics department does:
"We're still interested in aerodynamics--that's basically the effect of wind on the body or on any object you are playing with. A baseball, a tennis ball, anything that goes at high speed, has aerodynamic effects. So do sports that have people racing--bobsled racing, downhill ski racing, bicycle racing--and especially in Olympic or in world-class events. A lot of these races are decided by hundredths of a second. And a little difference in aerodynamics can make up those hundredths of a second very easily."
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Researching improvements to sports equipment works well for MIT students, Dr. Blair says. You can view his explanation on video at either 28.8k or 100k. You'll need the free QuickTime plug-in for this and the other video clips in the story. |
Into the Wind
Tunnel
Blair does not have to travel far to test these theories.
His office connects to MIT's Wright Brothers Wind
Tunnel, which can generate winds of up to 200 mph.
The wind tunnel was built in 1937, when aviation was
in its infancy.
Right now, Blair and his students are testing a bicycle monitoring system that measures wind speed, aerodynamic drag (the friction caused by the wind), the power with which the rider pedals, and heart rate. The rider is able to read this data through a small display in his helmet and adjust his posture and performance accordingly.
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See a demonstration of how this monitoring system operates. You can view the video at either 28.8k or 100k. | 
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Researchers use a trail of water vapor to study how air flows over the bike and the rider. View the video at either 28.8k or 100k. | |
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Get Dr. Blair's view of where sports technology has come and where it can go. View the video at either 28.8k or 100k. |
Picking Up
Speed
Another team at MIT's Laboratory for Sports Innovation
is developing a microscopic sensor that attaches to
inline skates and measures their instantaneous and
average speed. This information is transmitted to
a device on the skater's wrist.
- If the sensor recorded your
skating speed at 8 ft per second, what would your
speed be in miles per hour? (Remember that 5,280
ft = 1 mile)
- This invention would also measure the difference in a skater's speed when pushing off one foot and when coasting afterward. If your speed was 8 ft per second during the 3 seconds when you were pushing and 7 ft per second for the 7 seconds you spent coasting, what would be your average speed in miles per hour?
Finding the
Strike Zone
An older pastime has not escaped the attention of
Blair and his crew. This project involves designing
an automated strike zone for baseball. One approach
includes posting high-speed cameras at the correct
angles to identify balls and strikes.
Another approach uses light beams that are broken by the baseball as it crosses home plate. Since strike zones vary according to each player's height, that information would have to be added to the program in advance.
Blair acknowledges that improvements such as these may not always be considered improvements. "There's always the risk of upsetting the way a game is played when you make technological changes," he says. "Baseball is a very traditional game. A few years ago, someone at MIT developed a dimpled baseball bat, just like the dimpled golf ball. The dimpled surface reduced the aeronautic drag on the bat so you could swing it faster than the standard bat. The inventor took it to the major leagues, and they said, 'No.'"
Use Your Imagination
In the table below, list some of your own ideas for
making technological improvements to your favorite
sports.
| Sport | Your Improvement |
Learn More
- Check
out a site on the Tennis
Sports Science.
- Analytic
Cycling provides methods for evaluating and
estimating performance.
- Get
Looking
Inside Sports Aerodynamics (X-Ray Vision).
- The Physics of Baseball throws a curve at the national pastime.
