The Physics of Martial Arts

Brian McGonagill

for: Classical Mechanics, Fall 2004

Dr. Charles W. Myles
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Martial Arts as a Whole

Allow me to begin with a basic lesson in the differences between different styles of
martial arts, the similarities of the different styles of martial arts, and my personal
background with the martial arts.

Off the top of my head I can name ten different styles of martial arts, and that would only
cover one tenth of the myriad of styles out there. The martial arts go back over 2000
years, and were developed originally by monks to defend their villages against invading
armies. Through the years the martial arts have been refined and changed from the way
they were originally taught. Many of these refinements are due to basic kinematics and
energetic physical principles. The movements have been broken down to increase their
efficiency in much the same manner as we would break down the inner workings of a
semi-conductor, or car engine, or circuit in order to improve its efficiency.

The Martial arts can be separated into two extremely generalized styles. Hard style
martial arts incorporates the use of punches, kicks, elbows, knees, and other hard strikes
and blocks for the effect of crushing and destroying the body of the opponent. Soft style
on the other hand uses joint locks, throws, take-downs, and joint manipulation to cause
extreme pain to the end of gaining compliance from an opponent.

I have studied several of these styles since I was 7 years old. I hold a 2nd dan (degree)
black belt in Tae Kwon Do (a Korean hard style art), a 1st dan in Hapkido ( a Korean soft
style art), and, currently, a middle ranking belt in Aikido ( a Japanese soft style art). I
have dedicated much of my life to perfecting these styles, and to refining them even
further to increase their efficiency with minimal output on my part. Throughout this
paper I will discuss how I have incorporated the use of mechanics into my refinement of
these styles of martial arts.

The Basics
We can begin to analyze the martial arts with some of the basic physics knowledge that
we attain during late high school and early college study. Then we can begin to
incorporate more in stepped increments and see how the problem can become a bit more
complex.

Starting with our basic equations for Energy we can write out an equation that will give
us a fair understanding of what goes into the simplest punch or block. First, lets analyze
a basic straight (linear) punch. A martial artist punches in a way to maximize Pressure by
using only a surface of the weapon one inch by one inch ( 1 x 1 ) max. Many martial
arts use a rotating fist in order to help align the two punching knuckles (index and
middle) appropriately. We will take our first punch to be more of a Gung-Fu (pronounced
Kung Fu) style punch where the fist is held at all times with the knuckles vertical to the
surface of the earth if the attacker is standing.
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Using the concept that kinetic energy is based on mass and velocity, and potential energy
is based on mass, gravity, and a change in position in the vertical (y) we can write the
following:

E = mv2 + mgy

Where m is the mass of the fist and arm (approximately 7 10 kg), and v is the velocity
in the horizontal (x) direction only. Now taking the velocity to be the velocity of the arm
and fist at - 4/5 full extension we can ascertain the total mechanical energy of the
punch just prior to contact with the target.

T = (8.0 kg)(5.44 m/s)2 = 118.3 J

V = -(8.0 kg)(9.8 m/s2)(.16 m) = - 12.5 J

E = T + V = 118.3 J 12.5 J = 105.8 J

Once we have this total mechanical energy, we can use it to find the amount of pressure
being put into the target due to the amount of area of the punch, and the force due to
energy of the punch. First, we find the force of the punch.

F = ma = (8.0 kg)(109 m/s2) = 872 N

Now, this is obviously a large number, but we must understand that the entire arm did not
travel the full 0.31 m used to arrive at the above acceleration. We can make a correction
where we sum the distance traveled by each part of the arm, over slightly less distance as
we get closer to the shoulder. We chop the arm into 10 pieces, each piece being one-
tenth the mass of the whole arm, and then take each piece to have traveled one-tenth less
than the piece just further from the shoulder.

10
iv
m 10t
i 1
i = 478.8 N
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Now we can find the Pressure created on the target by the punching hand.

Pressure = F/A

Even from this simple model we can use physics to determine the destructive power of
the martial arts.

One might think it difficult to find the area of a fist, heel, or foot, because on each unique
person these areas will differ, and quite significantly in many cases. In the martial arts,
however, the use of the one inch rule is a well known, widely used rule for the weapons
of the hand, feet, legs, arms, etc.

The one inch rule states that any weapon used to attack or block should be no wider than
one inch at its widest point. We use the index and middle finger knuckle on the fist only.
These are approximately one inch apart on any adult. There are seven primary weapons
of the hand, each of which is approximately one inch in width at its widest part. Using
this information we can easily suggest that the punch weapon is one inch square, and
changing that to centimeters gives us 6.45 centimeters square.

So, Pressure = 478.8 N / 6.45 x 10-4 m2 = 7.42 x 105 N/m2

Now we will add a few factors to the equations and look at how the problem can first
become more involved, and second give us a much better idea of the true power behind
the martial arts.

The Effects of Rotational Mechanics

In this section I will cover a range of issues dealing with the use of rotational mechanics,
mostly with the idea of rigid body motion. The body, when performing the martial arts, is
used in various ways to improve, balance, speed, and overall power as a system. To
perfect this use of the entire body can take years of practical application, but only
moments to understand.

First, let us discuss the different ways that the body moves when performing certain
attacks and/or blocks in the martial arts. For our purposes now, we will only take into
account the hard style art movements. Many of the hard style and soft style movements
are similar, and rightly so, being based on a single system which has been diversified and
refined throughout thousands of years. We will focus, however, specifically on the hard
style movement first.

With the punch that we discussed previously, there comes much more motion from the
body. First there is rotational motion at the hips thus causing the upper half of the body
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to turn, the shoulder to extend, and the arm to gain distance so that it can be accelerated
through the target.

This motion will add a large amount of energy and momentum to the movement of the
previously simple punch. We will estimate the shape of the human torso to be equivalent
to figure 1 below.

Figure 1

The first figure is a two dimensional approximation of the shape of the human torso from
the front perspective, and the second part of the figure is how we will approximate the
shape, as a three dimensional version of the first part of the figure.

For that shape we will approximate the moment of inertia I to be that of a thin, wide
rectangle. Where

I= 1
12 M (w 2 d 2 )

Where M is the mass of the torso, w is the distance from the center of the torso to the
edge of the shoulder, and d is the distance from the center of the torso to the outer edge of
the back. Lets use the following actual values for each of these variables:

M = 35 kg, w = 22 cm = 0.22 m, d = 7 cm = 0.07 m

so, I = 0.1554 kg * m2

Now we can use this information to get new values of energy, force, and pressure for the
linear punch, adding the effects of the rotational mechanics of the body.

E = I2 + mv2 + mgy

In this case I was able to get a faster linear velocity off of my arm as I punched, so it has
now increased to 7.3 m/s. We will use this for the new calculations.

E = 0.5(0.1554 kg m2)(1.92/0.222) + 0.5(8.0 kg)(7.3 m/s)2 + (8.0 kg)(9.8 m/s2)(0.16 m)

 6

E = 207.03 J

This value of total mechanical energy is almost twice the first value that we calculated
without rotating the torso. This should prove to you conclusively that adding rotational
mechanics into a linear movement can increase the energy output drastically, allowing for
a much more destructive and powerful strike.

Now, let us look at the effects of this energy on the Force and pressure of our punch. We
will use the same summation for the force, but this time will add in the effects of the
rotation of the body.

10
iv 10
iv
F=
i 1
mi + I =
10t
m 10t
i 1
i + I/w

F = 642.4 N + 128.4 N = 770.8 N

P = F/A = 770.8 N / 6.45 x 10-4 m2 = 1.195 x 106 N/m2

Again, we see a huge increase in Force and Pressure due to the rotational mechanics
involved in rotating the torso during the punch.

Now that we have all of this great information, what does it tell us? We can answer this
question in a fairly simple physical setup of board breaking. Martial artists throughout
history have wanted to challenge their skills, and to test their limitations, and one of the
best ways of doing this is board breaks. In the martial arts, the board is set to represent a
bone in the body. The ability to swiftly and easily break the board, while causing only
minimal damage to the body, is a test of the artists mastery of that particular move. We
will look at this test from the physics standpoint.

Lets take the punch through a board from the perspective of energy transfer and the
resulting deformation damage due to the energy transfer. We take the board of mass m1 at
rest, and the mass of the hand and arm of the martial artist m2 moving at velocity v upon
impact, and ignoring the minimal amount of energy lost as thermal energy (heat energy).
The amount of energy in the system lost due to the deformation damage can now be
calculated as follows:

1 e 2 m1 m2
E = v2
2 ( m1 m2 )

where e is the coefficient of restitution, which measures how elastic a collision is. It is a
function of the hardness or softness of the colliding objects. In this case combining this
with the masses and velocity determine the impulse of the collision. This tells us that
when hard objects collide (e ~ 0) the transfer of energy and force is maximized as the
objects accelerate one another very quickly. This allows for the breaking of the board
which has a very small coefficient of restitution.
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Here is a graph of the velocity needed by the hand and forearm to break through a board
or concrete based on the maximum deflection of the board or concrete.

Physics in the Soft Style Arts

1. 2. 3.
Figure 2

Looking at figure 2 above we can get an idea of simple basis behind the majority of the
soft style martial arts movements. The red line represents the attackers motion, and the
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blue line represents the defenders standing position as if looking down from above. In
step 1 you will see that the attacker begins in a straight line toward the defender as the
defender is standing perpendicular to the attackers motion. As the attacker approaches
with the attack, whether it is with an open hand, closed fist, knife, etc., the defender will
receive the attacker by stepping back slightly as he grabs the attackers forward hand or
arm, assisting the attacker in continuing in the direction of his motion momentarily.

The defender then does something interesting. He will step around behind the attacker,
and pull the attacker in closer to him. This creates a system where two separately moving
bodies have now merged into a single moving rigid body in circular motion. The steps
taken by the defender have a very significant purpose in this process. The steps set the
defender at the center of the circle and cause the attacker to be on the outside of the
circle. To make this more easily understood there are two analogies that I use. The
defender is a penny set near the center of an LP type record which is playing. The penny,
if set near enough to the center or dead on top of the center will spin without slipping.
The attacker is a penny placed at the outer edge of the same record, and will fly off the
record as it spins.

The second analogy is to imagine yourself spinning in place as fast as you can and one of
your friends trying to run around you at the same rate so that you are always facing them.
Even worse is if your friend is trying to run backwards around with you so that you are
always facing them.

Figure 3 below illustrates the discussion above. Simple rotational mechanics tell us that
the further from the center something gets while moving in a circle, the faster the linear
acceleration away from the center.

a = r

where a is the linear acceleration outward, is the angular acceleration of the object
rotating about a fixed center, and r is the radial distance from the center to the object.

Figure 3

In the soft style arts, turning a two body problem into a one body problem is actually a
very physically sound thing to do. Not only does it make the mathematics easier to work
with, but it also eliminates human variables from the problem.
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Lets look at this as a two body problem first, where we will conserve momentum of the
attacker (m1) and the defender (m2).

p1= m1v1 and p2 = m2v2

From my experience in law enforcement I have learned that an average human can cover
about 6.2 m in approximately 1.5 seconds. Plugging these in for p1 we find

p1 = 90 kg (4.13 m/s) = 372 kg m/s

Now if we say that m1 struck m2 head on over a time interval of 0.2 seconds, we would
find that the force of this interaction is as follows

dp p
F= = 1860 N of force
dt t

This is a devastating amount of force, and the pressure that would be exerted on m2 if m1
were to strike head on with a fist is

Pressure = F/A = 2.88 x 106 N/m2

So by avoiding the head on attack with a small step back, rotating the body at an angle to
the attack, and then blending with the attacker to create an inelastic collision, we not only
conserve momentum and energy, but add to it by adding our own mass and velocity to the
motion of the attacker, and use this against him.

L = r x p = pr sin

For our purposes we will let be 90o so that L = pr = mvr. Where m will be the
combined mass of the attacker, v is the velocity of the two persons as a system, and r will
be the average distance of the attackers body as it separates from the defenders body
during rotation.

For this portion, the attackers head and upper body will be pulled tightly into the
defenders chest. This allows the attackers lower body to drift outward from the
defender as they rotate.
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You can see in the pictures above that the attacker comes in, the defender steps at an
angle, and pulls the attacker in for the rotation which causes the attacker to fall.

Using the above to approximate some numbers for this equation, we find that

p12 = p1 + p2

You must understand that in soft styles, the initial velocity of the attacker dictates the
velocity of the rotation. This is not so much for reasons of physics, but for a reason of
maintaining the flow of movement. This is to minimize the energy output required on the
part of the defender.

So if the attacker has a linear velocity of 4.13 m/s, the angular velocity of the outermost
portion of the attackers body will be about 5.2 rad/s. This allows us to calculate the
momentum which the two will have as a rotating system. The two as a system will have
an approximate width of 0.12 m at their closest points, and 0.6 meters as the average
value of their greatest separation.

10
irv
L = mi = 166.7 kg m2/s
i 1 10

Now that we have a value for their combined angular momentum in the spin, lets convert
that to linear momentum just prior to the separation of the two bodies.

L = pr p = L/r

p = 166.7 kg m2/s / 0.48 m = 347.2 N s

Again using the equation that momentum before must equal momentum after, we see that
if the defender halts his momentum and allows the attacker to continue on alone, the
attacker will gain almost all of the momentum of the combined system of bodies. This is
the effect that can cause the attackers feet to come out from under him.

Now in Aikido, and most other soft style arts, things are not usually so nice, so we will
look at the situation when the defender not only stops his own momentum, but changes
the direction of his momentum quickly with a slight separation distance between himself
and the attacker. The defender wants to move more quickly rotating in the opposite
direction than he was in the initial direction while extending his arm, making it rigid,
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across the top portion of the attackers torso and neck area. Now we have a case where
combined linear momenta are transformed into a rotational angular momentum with the
body rotation in the x-axis rather than in the z-axis as before.

The picture to the left shows the various possibilities of the position
of the axis of rotation created by the above action. In reality, the
attacker would prefer not to fall at all, but if he had a choice would
prefer one of the red lines be the axis of rotation, whereas maximal
impact comes from creating the axis of rotation at one of the blue
line positions. Striking at these points with enough momentum
caused of course by the rotational motion of the defenders body and
rigidness of the arm, will cause the attackers feet to literally leave
the ground, and thus the attacker has the full distance of his height to
fall. While it may seem that the attacker would fall the same
distance no matter where he is taken down from, it is also true that if
hit near the red lines, the attacker is far more likely to bend forward,
allowing him to cushion the fall with his hands and arms.

Conclusions
It becomes easy to see that with little to no knowledge of how to perform the martial arts,
one can simply observe the motions involved in the martial arts and quickly come to the
conclusions of how powerful and devastating these movements can be. It is also easily
seen that regardless of the size of a person, if trained properly in the body mechanics,
kinematics, and physics of the martial arts, a person can easily cause destructive damage
to an attacker.

There are many other aspects to the martial arts that use similar physical principles as
discussed here, but these are the principles that I could most widely generalize for the
purpose of this paper. There is a multitude of blocks, punches, kicks, and throws that
could be taken into account when breaking them down into the physics behind them, but
that would take an entire book.
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References
Bloomfield, Louis A., How things Work: the Physics of Everyday Life. New York: John
Wiley & Sons, Inc. (1977)

Walker, Jearl D., Karate Strikes. American Journal of Physics 43, 845-849 (1975).

Wilk, S. R. et al, The Physics of Karate American Journal of Physics 51, 783-790
(1983).

Chabay, Ruth and Sherwood, Bruce, Matter and Interactions: Modern Mechanics. New
York: John Wiley & Sons Inc. (2002).

Thornton, Stephen T. and Marion, Jerry B., Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems,
5th Edition. Thomson, Brooks/Cole (2004).
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Newtons First Law: Inertia

In order to talk about motion, one must start at the very beginning: Getting an object to
move. Newtons First Law states that an object at rest, or not in motion, will stay that
way unless acted on by an unbalanced force. A prime example would be bowling pins
before being hit by a ball. Similarly, an object that is moving will keep moving unless
another unbalanced force acts on it. An unbalanced force in this case means any force
that is not the force pushing or pulling the object. Inertia is the force an object possesses
that either keeps it in place or keeps it moving. In order to move or stop the object, the
force must match the inertia of the object.

Martial arts applied to Inertia

In martial arts, this object that must be stopped or moved is almost always the
opponent. The knowledge of inertia is enough to convince the defender to step aside
when a larger opponent is charging towards them. His large inertia will overcome them
and they will not stop him right away. Inversely, smaller opponents will be easier to stop
due to their inertia being larger than the defenders; the unbalanced force needed to
stop them in their tracks. On the other side of this law, someone could be pushing the
opponent instead. If they push on the larger opponent, he wont move due to his larger
mass, while a smaller opponent is easier to move. Keep in mind that this is true ONLY if
the same amount of force is used every time. How can something be moved if its inertia
is greater than the first object? Newtons Second Law can be used to calculate what
increase in what unit is necessary.

Newtons Second Law: F=ma

Newtons second law has to do with exactly what is needed to do to move anything. For
force to exist, there must be mass and acceleration. When you multiply mass and
acceleration, force is the product. To increase the amount of force, either mass or
acceleration must be increased as well. However, due to mass and acceleration being
inversely proportional, when you increase one of them, you must decrease the other. A
good illustration would be a car or a bullet. Because mass cannot safely be added to a
car while it moves, the only way increase the force is to increase the acceleration. In the
bullets case, there is a gun that accelerates a bullet the same amount no matter what
bullet it is. To increase force, one would acquire a larger bullet until the target force is
achieved.

Martial arts applied to F=ma

In martial arts, a person usually does not have the means or the strength to add mass to
their moving mass to increase force. The focus is increasing acceleration and hitting in an
area that will be weak enough to harm under the force of the blow. So, a faster punch
would equal a harder hit. Often, when in really close quarters, acceleration cannot be
properly increased. To compensate for that, karate techniques are taught to end about
 14

an inch in the target, ensuring contact. That guarantees that it will hit with full force.
However, a martial artist must be careful how hard they hit whatever it is their hitting;
thats because whatever hits them will hit them back as hard as they hit it.

Newtons Third Law: Action-Reaction

Now that motion is achieved, what are the results of this motion? The two prior laws are
dedicated to explaining why and how things move, but what are the results? What is the
reaction to the action that is caused? With this mindset, we observe Newtons Third
Law: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Punching a wall with 450
N, for example, will not only cause someone to writhe in pain on the ground, but it will
also make the wall hit back with 450 N. However, this does not apply to EVERY single
instance. There are instances where the object hit cant hit back with the force used on
it, such as driving a golf ball down a range. The force exerted was so strong, it only hits
back with however much force its inertia allows it to before it moves. Where does the
rest of this force go? It is translated into force in the objects movement. That ball is now
flying with the force of the swing minus the force it took to move the ball.

Martial arts applied to Action-Reaction

If anything, this is the most important law to martial arts. With it, martial artists know
what parts of the body to hit, how hard to hit them, and how to defend from those hits.
The way kicks are delivered, martial artists are taught to whip their leg out to kick and
quickly snap the leg back. This minimizes the time in contact with the opponent and the
attacker experiences less damage from the reaction to his action. A clearer example
would be the sword of a kung-fu practitioner. Lets say he or she is told to cut down two
trees with the same amount of force. One tree is a young sapling and the other is a large
and old tree. They slash at the tree and the sword sticks, the force of their blow
returning to the sword and ultimately, their arm. The saplings inertia, however, is too
small to stop the blade and is quickly cut down; the sword only losing the force that was
necessary to cut down the tree.

Friction & Air Resistance

Friction forces act against the movement of one surface over
another such as tennis shoes on a grass court. Friction is the force
which prevents the player slipping and sliding. When air passes over
a surface, particularly at speed then a frictional force called air
resistance occurs.

Friction
Some examples of friction acting in sport are:
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A sprinter accelerating on a track. The foot applies a force

downwards and backwards into the track. The friction forces of
the track resist this causing forward movement (otherwise the
sprinter would slip). Friction acts in the opposite direction to the
force the foot applies on the track but in the same direction as
the movement.

A downhill skier. As the skis glide over the snow friction forces
resists the movement of the ski on the surface of the snow.
These forces are much less than experienced on the track or the
skier would be unable to move down the hill.

Friction is increased when:

One or both of the surfaces are rough.
The temperature of some surfaces is increased for example
rubber tyres on a racing car need to be warmed up to create
more friction.

Air resistance
Air resistance is a friction force applied by the air on bodies that are
moving through it. The amount of air resistance on a body depends
on:
The velocity it is traveling at (the faster it goes, the more air
resistance).
 16

The cross sectional area (the larger the area, the more air the
body has to displace so the higher the air resistance forces).
The shape and surface of the body (a pointy shape is going to
'cut' through the air more easily than a flat one and if the
surfaces are smooth then the air flows over more easily).

Forces
A force is a push or a pull which alters the state of motion of a body
and is measured in Newtons (N). Here we cover balanced and
unbalanced forces, friction, air resistance, impulse, force time
graphs and free body diagrams.

Balanced & Unbalanced Forces

A force is a push or a pull which alters the state of motion of a body

and is measured in Newtons (N). As explained in Newton's first law
of motion a force is required to make a stationary body move,
change speed, direction or stop.

Impulse

Impluise is simply a measure of the force applied for a specific time.

Impuise = force x time and has units Ns (Newton seconds). Impulse
is important in sport because many techniques, particularly
 17

throwing activities require the performer to apply as large a force

possible for as long as possible. The area of a force time graph
gives the impluse.

Friction & Air Resistance

Friction forces act against the movement of one surface over
another such as tennis shoes on a grass court. Friction is the force
which prevents the player slipping and sliding. When air passes over
a surface, particularly at speed then a frictional force called air
resistance occurs.

Free Body Diagrams

Free body diagrams are used to show which forces are acting on a
body at a particular instant in time. Arrows indicate the position,
direction and size of the force acting. The most likely forces acting
on a sports performer are friction, air resistance, weight and
reaction forces.
More Biomechanics:

Linear Motion

Forces

Linear Motion
Linear motion simply means motion in a straight line (as opposed to
circular motion or rotation). In order to talk about linear motion
scientifically we need to be familiar with mass, distance,
displacement, speed, velocity and acceleration. Here we explain
Newton's laws of motion, mass, inertia, momentum, speed, velocity,
distance, displacement and graphs of motion.

Forces
 18

A force is a push or a pull which alters the state of motion of a body

and is measured in Newtons (N). Here we cover balanced and
unbalanced forces, friction, air resistance, impulse, force time
graphs and free body diagrams.

Angular Motion
Angular momentum includes rotating bodies, levers, stability,
moment of force / torque, axis of rotation, moment of inertia and
angular momentum.

Fluid Mechanics
Fluid mechanics or fluid dynamics comes into sport a lot and covers air resistance, drag,
projectiles, spin on balls and Bernoulli principle and lift force.

Basic principles for understanding sport mechanics

By Brendan Burkett

Basic principles for understanding sport mechanics

Before we begin, we need to brush up on the mechanical principles that are fundamental to understanding sport
mechanics. The following reference section provides an overview of the mechanical terms mass, weight, and inertia;
linear and angular motion; and speed, velocity, and acceleration.
Mass
Mass simply means substance, or matter, and is typically measured with the units of pounds (lb) or kilograms (kg).
People often interchange mass with weight, but scientifically these terms mean two different things. If an object has
substance and occupies space, it has mass. Mass is the quantity of matter that the object takes up. Weight, on the
other hand, is this quantity of matter plus the influence of gravity or, more precisely, gravitational force. So for all our
studies on Earth, where the acceleration (measured in meters per second squared, m/s2) due to gravity is pretty
constant (at 10 m/s2), weight is simply mass multiplied by the gravitational force, 10. For example, someone with a
mass of 100 kg will have a force of weight (measured in newtons, N) of 1,000 N. So for coaches, athletes, and sport
scientists, mass is the most common term we should use, and weight is the force this mass generates.

We frequently talk of National Football League (NFL) linemen as being massive or having tremendous body mass,
indicating that the athletes are enormous and have plenty of muscle, bones, fat, tissue, fluids, and other substances
that make up their bodies. Athletes who want to perform well in their chosen events carefully monitor their body
mass. They know that too much or too little mass can seriously affect their performance. For all of us, checking our
body mass is a means of assessing our general health and fitness. When we get on a scale, the dial gives us a
reading that we associate with the amount of body mass that we carry around. A common assumption is that an
athletes body mass compresses the springs in the scale, and that the readout on the dial represents the amount by
which the springs are squeezed together. This is true, but what actually happens is a little more complex, as
discussed next.
Weight
In mechanical terms, an athletes weight represents the earths gravity pulling on the athletes body. The readout on
the scale represents how much pull or attraction exists between the two. The earth pulls the athlete downward. So
an athlete with more body mass compresses the springs to a greater extent than an athlete who has less body
mass. As a result the needle on the scale moves farther around the dial.
 19

Inertia
We use the word inertia in everyday life to characterize the behavior of people who are slow to commit themselves
to action. So you could say that theres a relationship between inertia and laziness. In mechanical terms, inertia
means more than just laziness because it refers to the desire of an object (or an athlete) to continue doing
whatever its doing. Inertia means resistance to change. If an object is motionless it will want to remain motionless.
If its moving slowly it will want to continue moving slowly, and if its moving fast it will want to continue moving fast. If
we are looking at something moving, then the mass of the object will directly relate to the inertia. Which is harder to
throw, or get moving, a mens shot put (16 lb or 7.3 kg) or a tennis ball (2 oz or 56 g)? Naturally, the shot put is
harder to get moving; so the greater the mass an object has, the more inertia it has too. We must also consider one
more important characteristic of inertia. Once on the move, objects always want to move in a straight line. They will
not willingly travel around circular pathways; its necessary to pull or push on them to produce a curved pathway. A
ball thrown by an outfielder would travel in a straight line following its release trajectory were it not for air resistance
slowing it down and gravity curving its flight path toward the earths surface.

The more massive an athlete, the more the athletes body mass resists change. A giant 300 lb (136 kg) athlete
needs to exert great muscular force to get his body mass moving. Once moving in a particular direction, the athlete
must again produce an immense amount of muscular force to stop or change direction. Athletes with less body mass
have less inertia and therefore need to apply less force to get themselves going. Likewise, they need less force than
a more massive athlete to maneuver or stop themselves once theyre on the move. There are many examples in
everyday life of inertia at work. Oil tankers that cross our oceans have tremendous mass and inertia. They need
powerful engines to get them going and huge distances to stop and to turn around. Consider Japanese sumo
wrestlers or defensive and offensive linemen in American football. Just like the oil tanker, these athletes must apply
tremendous force to get their body mass moving and then apply a huge amount of force to change direction or to
maneuver the great masses of their opponents.

In sports like squash or badminton, its possible for the immense mass and inertia of huge athletes to work against
them. Its no good being massive when sudden and varied movement changes are required unless you have the
power to move your mass quickly and to control it once its moving. Massive athletes tend to have a poorer strength-
to-mass ratio than do smaller, less massive athletes; so they have a tougher time stopping, starting, and changing
direction. Thats why badminton and squash players are lean, lightweight, and anything but massive. If youre a
small, lightweight squash player, you can get a lot of pleasure from making your massive opponent crash into the
side walls. You have a friend helping you in the courtyour opponents inertia!

An interesting example of inertia at work occurs when athletes are in flight. Consider two athletes who decide to
bungee jump from a bridge. One athlete is twice as massive as the other. They step off the bridge at the same
instant. Surprisingly, they accelerate toward the earth at approximately the same rate. Because the earth attracts the
more massive bungee jumper twice as much, you might think that this athlete would accelerate downward twice as
fast. But this same athlete has twice the inertia of the other thrill seeker and so resists being accelerated by gravity
twice as much. In this situation, air resistance plays a negligible role, and the two athletes accelerate downward at
approximately the same rate.

Think of inertia as an enemy when an athlete wants to get moving. To defeat this enemy, its good if the athletes
mass is made up of powerful muscles that are able to generate the required amount of force. Once the athlete is on
the move, inertia can become a friend because the second characteristic of inertia is that it wants to keep the athlete
going. The difference between resting inertia and moving inertia causes athletes to expend much more energy at the
start of a 100 m dash than when sprinting in the middle of the race. The two characteristics of inertia, resistance to
motion and then persistence in motion, are seen not only in linear situations in which objects and athletes move in a
straight line, but also in rotary situations when objects such as bats and clubs are made to follow a circular pathway.
As long as the athlete makes a baseball bat travel around in an arc, the bat will try to continue moving along this
circular pathway. If the bat slips out of the athletes hands, it will immediately go back to its initial preference, which is
to move at a constant speed along a straight line.
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In linear movement, mass is synonymous with inertia. The more mass, the more inertia. The characteristics of inertia
are described in the first of Isaac Newtons three famous laws of motion. We commonly call it Newtons first law,
Newtons law of inertia, or simply Newton I. This law also applies to rotary situations. But rotary inertia (also called
rotary resistance or moment of inertia) involves more than just the mass of the object. We also need to know how the
mass is distributed (i.e., spread out or compressed) relative to the axis around which the object is spinning. Chapter
4 will cover rotational movement.

Linear and Angular Motion

The movement of an object can be classified in three different ways. Movement can be linear (in a straight line),
angular (in a circular or rotary fashion), or a mix of linear and angular, which we simply call general motion. In sport,
a mix of linear and angular movement is most common. Angular movement plays the dominant role because most of
an athletes movements result from the swinging, turning action of the athletes limbs as they rotate around the joints.

Linear motion describes a situation in which movement occurs in a straight line. Linear motion can also be called
translation, but only if all parts of the object or the athlete move the same distance, in the same direction, and in the
same time frame. As you can imagine, translation rarely occurs in an athletes movement because some parts of an
athletes body can be moving faster than other parts and not always exactly in the same direction. For example, an
athlete in the 100 m sprint wants to travel the shortest distance from the start to the finish. The shortest distance is a
straight line. Yet sprinting is produced by a rotary motion of the limbs as they pivot at the athletes joints, and the
athletes center of gravity rises and falls during each stride.

Many terms are used to refer to angular motion. Coaches talk of athletes rotating, spinning, swinging, circling,
turning, rolling, pirouetting, somersaulting, and twisting. All of these terms indicate that an object or an athlete is
turning through an angle, or number of degrees. In sports such as gymnastics, skateboarding, basketball, diving,
figure skating, and ballet, the movements used by athletes include quarter turns (90 degrees); half turns (180
degrees); and full turns, or revs (revolutions), which are multiples of 360 degrees. Slam dunk competitions are a
great example of basketball players showing off their 360s.

To produce angular motion, movement has to occur around an axis. You can think of an axis as the axle of a wheel
or the hinge on a door. An athletes body has many joints, and they all act as axes. The most visible rotary motion
occurs in the arms and legs. The upper arm rotates at the shoulder joint, the lower arm at the elbow joint, and the
hand at the wrist. The hip joint acts as an axis for the leg, the knee for the lower leg, and the ankle for the foot.
Movements like walking and running depend on the rotary motion of each segment (e.g., foot, lower leg, and thigh)
of an athletes limbs as they rotate around the joints.

All human motion is best described as general motion, a combination of linear and angular motion. Even those sport
skills that require an athlete to hold a set position involve various amounts of linear and angular motion. A gymnast
balancing on a beam and the aerodynamic crouch position during the acceleration prior to takeoff in ski jumping are
good examples. In maintaining balance on the beam, the gymnast still moves, however slightly. This movement may
contain some linear motion but will be made up primarily of angular motion occurring around the axes of the
gymnasts joints and where the gymnasts feet contact the beam. The ski jumper holding a crouched position
attempts to reduce air resistance to a minimum and accelerate as much as possible prior to takeoff. Sliding down the
inrun holding a crouched position is a good example of linear motion. But the athlete never fully maintains the same
body position throughout, and the inrun is not straight throughout, so any motion that the ski jumper makes will be
angular in character.

Perhaps the most visible combination of angular and linear motion occurs in a wheelchair race. The swinging,
repetitive angular motion of the athletes arms rotates the wheels. The motion of the wheels carries both the athlete
and the chair along the track. Down the straightaway, the athlete and chair can be moving in a linear fashion. At the
same time the wheels and the athletes arms exhibit angular motion (see figure 2.1). This combination of angular and
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linear motion is an example of general motion.

Speed, Velocity, and Acceleration

Just as the terms mass and weight are interchanged (sometimes incorrectly), a similar situation occurs with speed
and velocity. While both terms indicate how fast an object is traveling, with respect to time, they have subtle
differences. Speed is a scalar measure indicating how fast an object is traveling, measured by dividing the length or
distance traveled by the time; but speed does not quantify the direction of travel. Velocity, on the other hand, is the
change in position divided by the time.

If an elite sprinter runs 100 m in 10 s, we know that the athlete has run a certain distance (100 m, or 109.4 yd) in a
certain time (10 s). From this information you can work out the sprinters average speed, which is 10 m/s (10.9 yd/s),
or 36 km/h (22.4 mph). And in running 100 m on a straight track, since the direction of travel is in a straight and
consistent line, the change in position is also 100 m, so there is really no difference in calculating speed and
calculating velocity in this instance. However, sometimes we need to know in which direction, as well as how fast,
the object is traveling (i.e., north or south or positive or negative). In these situations, velocity is the better term to
use. For example, when kicking a ball, as the ball takes off we can look at how fast the ball is traveling in the
horizontal direction, in the vertical direction, and the resultant of these two components. To measure how fast the ball
travels in these planes, we measure velocity, not speed.

The velocity that the sprinter averaged over a distance of 100 m is 22.4 mph (36 km/h)nothing more. These
numbers dont tell you the sprinters top velocity, which could be as high as 26 mph (42 km/h), and they dont tell you
anything about the sprinters acceleration or deceleration, which is the rate at which velocity (or speed) changes. A
sprinter who averages 22.4 mph over 100 m runs faster and slower than 22.4 mph during different phases of the
race. Why? Because immediately after the starters gun goes off, the athlete is gaining velocity and for a while runs
much slower than 22.4 mph. The athlete then has to run faster somewhere else in the race to average 22.4 mph
over the whole distance.

Rates of acceleration vary dramatically from one athlete to another. Some athletes rocket out of the blocks and have
tremendous acceleration over the first 40 m of a 100 m race. Thereafter their rate of acceleration drops off, and close
to the tape they may even decelerate. Athletes who raced against multiple Olympic champion Carl Lewis were well
aware that he could still be accelerating at the 70 m mark in the 100 m dash. His rate of acceleration may have been
less than that of his opponents at the start of the race, but his acceleration continued longer. Over the last 30 m,
Lewis frequently caught and passed athletes who were tying up (i.e., breaking proper form because of fatigue) and
decelerating. In the 400 m event, the 50 m velocity measures for Michael Johnson as he broke the 400 m world
record in the time of 43.18 s in 1999 are shown in figure 2.2 (note that this world-record time was not broken at the
2008 Beijing Olympic Games). Johnsons maximum velocity was at the 150 m mark, and the key difference between
Johnson and the opposition was also the smaller amount of drop-off between each 50 m interval.

It is possible for athletes to reduce their rate of acceleration and still increase velocity. As long as acceleration exists,
even if its minimal, velocity will increase. If deceleration occurs, velocity will be reduced. How much an athletes
velocity increases or decreases depends on the rate of acceleration and deceleration.

Uniform acceleration and uniform deceleration mean that an athlete or an object speeds up or slows down at a
regular rate. An example of uniform acceleration occurs when a four-man bobsled slides down the track in the Winter
Olympics and accelerates to a speed of 15 ft/s (4.6 m/s) by the first second, 30 ft/s (9.1 m/s) by the second, and 45
ft/s (13.7 m/s) by the third. For every second that the bobsled is moving, it is increasing speed at a uniform rate of 15
ft/s. You write this acceleration as 15 ft/s/s, or 15 ft/s2 (4.6 m/s/s, or 4.6 m/s2). Notice that there is one distance unit
(i.e., 15 ft) and there are two time units (i.e., s/s) whenever you refer to acceleration. This indicates the rate of
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change of velocity, or the amount of velocity added (i.e., 15 ft/s), with each successive time unit (i.e., 1 s) that
passes. If the bobsled decelerates at a uniform rate, then the reverse occurs. In this case it is slowing, or losing
velocity, at a uniform rate.

Uniform acceleration and deceleration do not happen that often in sport. When athletes (or objects such as balls or
javelins) are on the move, varying oppositional forces, ranging from opponents to air resistance, cause their
acceleration (or deceleration) to be varied or, in other words, nonuniform. However, one of the best examples of
uniform acceleration and deceleration occurs in flights of short duration such as in high jump, long jump, diving,
trampoline, and gymnastics. In these situations, air resistance is so minimal as to be considered negligible. Gravity
uniformly slows, or decelerates, the athletes as they rise in flight by a speed of 32 ft/s for every 1 s of flight (i.e., 32
ft/s2) and then accelerates them at a uniform rate of 32 ft/s2 on the way down (in the metric system, approximately
32 ft/s2 = 9.8 m/s2). Sometimes youll see deceleration described as negative acceleration and acceleration as
positive acceleration. A minus sign in front of 32 ft/s2 (i.e., 32 ft/s2) indicates that the diver is decelerating at a rate
of 32 ft/s for each second that he is rising in the air.

Friction in Volleyball
Frication plays a huge role in every aspect of our lives; it can play a negative or positive
role. In volleyball there are various types of friction that have positive influences on the
way the game is played and there are others that play a negative role in the way the game
is played.
Positive friction in volleyball.
In volleyball the aim of the game is to When jumping a player also uses the frictions
strike a ball into play that your opponent of their feet on the floor to gain a higher jump
cannot return or finds it difficult to return. to strike the ball at maximal height, if this
A friction force that makes this possible is didn't exist players would be slipping and
the friction of the air on the ball, for sliding around all over the court.
example when a player hits a ball with
topspin into play, the friction of the air on
the ball makes it spin faster than it
otherwise would. Topspin makes a ball
harder to pick-up and pass to the setter.

Another force that is present is the ball
itself, if there was no friction it would be
virtually impossible to pass set or hit the
ball, the ball would just slip through your
arms, or hands.
Negative friction in
volleyball.
Friction also plays a negative part in the game
of volleyball, when a player dives for a ball
the friction of the court on their skin causes
court burn or friction burn. Although the
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friction of the rubber soles of shoes on the

court is a positive it can also be a negative, if
there is too much friction players can become
injured from the sudden stopping that the
friction can cause. Some injuries that can
result from this would be hyperextensions of
the knees and or ankle injuries.