Ian D. 2024 | BASIS Independent Silicon Valley
- Project Title: A New Perspective of the Beautiful Game: Material Composition and Aerodynamics of a Soccer Ball
- BASIS Independent Advisor: Kevyn Adams
- Internship Location: Sportsplex, Beijing University (Remote)
- Onsite Mentor: Yueheng Lan
As the Copa America and Euros are right around the corner this summer, it would be cool to have the average fan see the sport of soccer through a new lens. This project is interesting on its own because many people understand how aerodynamics may affect how far an object is thrown or kicked in sports but less so about the impact of the materials that make up the ball. Using multiple World Cup balls from different years, I want to show how the material composition of a ball can lead to different movements when kicked. There will be two phases to the project, with the in-person experiment taking place at Sportsplex. I chose Sportsplex as it has an indoor soccer field, while also having a semi-professional league where I will be able to use facilities such as a ball launching mechanism. This in-person approach will give the audience a picture of how the ball would curve and move taken through various motion cameras. Through this, we should be able to quantify and differentiate the ball’s movements, by measuring the angle of degree the ball travels in, the distance each ball travels, and the spin rate of each ball. The simulation will be more theoretical, where I can show the audience how a typical soccer ball would work in a perfect environment. I predict that the material composition, especially the ones with few seams, will be evident in some ball’s movements, such as the 2010 World Cup Ball in the Jabulani, while being less evident in other World Cup Balls, such as the one used in the 2022 Qatar World cup.