Physics at a Football Game

This past weekend I took my 5 year old daughter to a college football game.  I've taken her to football games in the past, but this game presented the opportunity to teach her a bit of physics.  There were several physics concepts in play at the this game.

1.  Bouncy houses.  There were bouncy houses set up along the walkway behind one of the end zones.  She spotted these right away and during the second quarter we took a break to check them out.  The bouncy houses were for kids only (boo!) so I had to sit and watch.  She had a blast in the bouncy house.  We didn't really talk about the physics of a bouncy house together, but when she's older a bouncy house is a perfect opportunity to talk about Newton's 3rd Law.  Newton's 3rd Law states that for every force there is an equal and opposite reaction force.  In the bouncy house, someone jumping pushes down on the bouncy house material, applying a force to it.  The equal and opposite force is the bouncy house floor pushing back on you which propels you into the air.  Like I said, my daughter's a bit too young for a full discussion on Newton's Laws, but it's a good topic for the future.

2.  Boom sticks.  Every so often at football games they hand out these blow up sticks called boom sticks.  The boom sticks we received are shown in the picture below.

A boom stick.

The idea is to take two boom sticks and smack them together repeatedly.  When struck together, they make a 'boom' sound.  The point is to have thousands of these all smashing together at once to create a lot of noise.  The cool thing about the boom sticks is that they produce a different sound based on the angle you strike them together.  I had never thought about this before until this weekend's game when my daughter was smacking them together and they were making a very loud, ear-shattering noise.  I borrowed them from her and couldn't repeat the noise at first.  The noise I made with them was more of a dull, hollow sound.  If you strike them parallel to each other, they make the louder, higher pitched boom.  I tried looking up the physics of boom sticks online but didn't find much in terms of an explanation.

3.  Friction = heat.  It was a bit chilly at the game so we were wearing earmuffs and hats.  I forgot to bring my gloves so during the game I was rubbing my hands together and blowing on them.  My daughter asked me why I was doing that and I told her it was to keep my hands warm.  We had a short discussion on how rubbing your hands together releases energy through friction.  That energy is heat which temporarily warms your hands.  Blowing on your hands releases warm air from your lungs which also temporarily warms your hands.  

So we had a great time at the game and learned some physics in the process.  I encourage you to take time to notice your surroundings.  Science is everywhere and there are many great opportunities to quickly introduce your kids to simple science concepts.  The more aware they are of science, the great role it will play now and later on in their lives.