Sports Science Science Projects (57 results)
Top athletes and coaches use a whole lot of science and engineering to improve performance and increase the chances of winning. Technologies like better tennis rackets, sleeker running and swimming outfits, and aerodynamic soccer balls, mean that current athletes are breaking world records left and right. Add to that better nutrition and science-based training regimes and you have an era of amazing athletes! Explore how science and engineering impact your favorite sport.
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When watching a football game, have you ever wondered why some kicks lead to a successful field goal and others do not? There are a lot of variables at play in a game of football, and many of them are related to physics. One variable that can affect whether a field goal is successful is distance. In this science project, you will explore how field goal success rate is affected by distance from the goalposts. What will be the best distance for you to kick some field goals? Grab a football, head…
If you have a multi-speed bike, you know that you can make it easier or harder to pedal just by shifting gears. Ever wonder how that works? You can investigate this a number of ways. A basic approach is to use a selection of spools of thread (with different diameters), a board with two nails, and a rubber band. Place a spool over each nail, and put the rubber band over them. Mark the 12:00 position on each spool so that you can count revolutions. Turn one spool through a full circle and…
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You'll need: a puck, a hockey stick, a tape measure, at least one helper with a stopwatch and an empty rink. Have your friend start the watch just as you make contact with the puck, and stop it when the puck hits the boards. Measure the distance and divide by the time to get the speed of the puck. With two helpers and two stop watches, you can time the puck at center ice and at the far end. Are the speeds the same? How about if you don't follow through, but stop your stick as soon as it…
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Mike Powell of the United States currently holds the world record for the long jump at 8.95 meters, which is almost 30 feet! How did he jump so far? In this experiment, learn how a long jumper uses momentum from running to jump farther than the competition.
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Playing sports can be a lot of fun, but some sports pose higher risks of concussions, or brain injuries resulting from collisions, especially in contact sports like football. Some coaches, teams, and players use new warning devices mounted on helmets that sound an alarm after the head receives a serious impact. This gives an advanced warning of concussion risk (possibly before any of the medical symptoms might appear), signaling that the player should stop playing and see a medical…
Think of hitting a baseball, heading a soccer ball into the net, or hitting a tennis ball with a racquet. Where the ball goes depends on...what? You can set up a simple model to start your investigation. You'll need a marble, a flat piece of wood, a flat piece of cardboard, a pencil, a ruler, a protractor, and a level surface. Lay down the cardboard down on a level surface and set up the flat piece of wood at one edge. The wood will act like a wall, and you're going to roll the marble at…
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Have you ever seen a skateboarder jump over an obstacle or slide down a railing? It looks like they are defying the laws of physics when they perform these tricks. It looks like it, but that's not the case. Physics describes the motion of objects and it is a skateboarder's best friend! All of these tricks can be explained by physics. In this sports science fair project, you will learn how speed affects "popping an ollie." The ollie is a basic skateboarding trick, and it's the first step to more…
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Skateboarder alert: Extreme performance needed in this project. You can cruise and carve while you investigate which skateboard wheels produce the fastest (and slowest) rides on your terrain in these experiments. You pick the wheels and design the tests you think will produce the most extreme results for speed and turns. Do this project and you can work on your ride and learn some science about the speed, spin, and design of skateboard wheels.
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Did you know that the world record for the greatest number of jumps in a minute is more than 340? That's more than five jumps a second! How close do you think you can get to that number? If you are going to try to break the record, it might be important to figure out how jump rope length affects your success. Try your hand at this skipping science fair project and jump-start your chances for a jump rope record. If you have a smartphone available, you can use its accelerometer and a sensor app…
Do you like to watch the Olympics and see new world records get set? Have you ever wondered how fast you'd need to go to achieve that world record? Well, in this sports science fair project, you'll find out how to compute speeds needed to achieve world records. Not only that, but you'll learn what speed is, and how to measure it in almost anything that moves! So head for the track, you're on a search for speed!
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