Newton's Three Laws Of Motion In Hockey

1002 Words5 Pages
I have played the sport of hockey for about 14 years now and I believe it is very complex and a difficult sport to learn. The sport of ice hockey is a fast paced, adrenaline filled, and physical event. Hockey is based around many scientific principles ranging from how the puck moves around the ice to how we skate on the ice. A predominant area of science that is involved in the sport of hokey is physics which helps to explain how objects move in hockey. The area of physics I am going to focus on that relate to hockey are Newton’s three laws of motion and how they are seen throughout the sport of hockey. First let’s talk about Newton’s First Law of Motion. Newton’s First Law of Motion states that an object in motion will stay in motion and…show more content…
Newton's Second Law of Motion states the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration. Newton states that force equals mass times acceleration (F=MA). Thus, the greater the mass and acceleration then the greater the force will be exerted. This law can been see very clearly in the physical aspect of hockey with body checking. If a player is checked by a player who is not skating very fast and not very big in stature, then the force of his check will not be very large. However, if a big and fast hockey player checks you then the force will be very large because as mass and acceleration increase so does the force exerted by the checking player. Also the smaller player will receive some velocity away from the big guy who is doing the check and the big guy will slow down a bit from the contact. Finally this law can be seen in the shooting aspect of hockey. If a puck does not have much force exerted on it then the puck will not accelerate very much which makes it easier for the goalie to stop from entering the…show more content…
Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Newton’s Third Law can be seen once again in the body checking portion of hockey. If a big hockey player hits a small hockey player, the big hockey player experiences a force put upon him from the small hockey player which slows down the bigger player. In fact in the collision, the combined total momentum of both players is conserved. Remarkably even though the big guy may have caused the small guy some pain, the same force that the big player exerted on the small player, the small player exerted the same force right back to the big guy. This is why balance is key in hockey because you may be smaller but if you have better balance then you may just knock down the big guy coming to check you. Another way we see Newton’s Third Law is in skating itself. A players’ skate pushes against the ice and because of this the ice pushes back on the skate and the player is allowed to move forward or back on the ice. Finally we can see this law in the boards surrounding the ice. In most ice arenas the boards have quite a bit of bounce to them and that can play as an advantage to some teams. When being checked against the boards, you will bounce off the boards helping cause you less pain after you have been checked into them. Another reason teams use this to their advantage is that the boards can have the puck bounce off them to

    More about Newton's Three Laws Of Motion In Hockey

      Open Document