Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

NFL Asks Columbia University For Help With Deflate-Gate

Posted by samzenpus on from the keeping-up-the-pressure dept.

An anonymous reader writes with news that the NFL has reached out for some help answering the questions raised by deflate-gate. "Yep, it's for real. The law firm representing the NFL (Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison) has reached out to Columbia University's department of physics to recruit an expert on 'gas physics' to help determine, as has been reported, the 'environmental impacts on inflated footballs.' This is one of those rare times when the jocks turn to the nerds, so fellow fans of molecules and momentum — climb out of that gym locker you were stuffed into — this is our moment. Stand tall. And do the wave....They want to talk to a physicist, I presume, to help determine if a drop in temperature — a slowing of the air molecules inside the football — can explain the low pressure that was found in some of the balls used in the A.F.C. championship game two weeks ago between the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts."

4 of 239 comments (clear)

  1. Still Doesn't Explain... by DougF · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...why the other team's game balls remained properly inflated...given they were undergoing similar circumstances (weather, handling, use, etc).

    --
    Impetuous! Homeric!
  2. MIT? by RightwingNutjob · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What? They're afraid MIT is full of Pats fans?

  3. Re:It's not the gas... by CanadianRealist · · Score: 3, Interesting
    The behaviour of the gas is described nicely by the ideal gas law: PV/T is constant, where P is the pressure of the gas, V is the volume and T is the temperature. (T must use a scale relative to absolute zero.)

    The best answer here is to do a bunch of experiments, not a bunch of calculations.

    The NFL has plenty of experience in dealing with inflating footballs. It's pretty hard to believe that they don't understand what's going on. They should be well aware of the effects of cooling on both the ball and the air inside it. It's not like they recently started using inflated leather balls.

  4. Re:NFL is just looking for an excuse by sribe · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You fail basic logic here. It's obvious the NFL is not looking for an excuse, they are looking for "real scientists" to back up their already-made rejection of the already-made excuse from the Patriots. The last thing anybody in this case looking for an excuse would do would be to hire physicists.