Da’Ron Brown
What does physics have to do with football?
Find out Tuesday, Oct. 28, when STEM Café presents “Even More Physics of Football.”
This encore presentation of the crowd-pleasing “Physics of Football” presentation will provide a thought-provoking look into the science behind one of our country’s most popular and physical sports. Armchair quarterbacks and science geeks alike will learn more about bodies in motion as they develop some intriguing insights into the science behind the game.
The talk will take place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at The Fireside Grille, 49 Sugar Lane, in Sugar Grove. This casual, family-friendly event is free and open to the public. Food and drinks will be available for purchase from The Fireside Grille.
This month’s speaker is Michael Eads, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and the Center for Secondary Science and Math Education at NIU.
In addition to his work at NIU and research at Fermilab and CERN, Eads has been a lifelong football fan. The sport is the perfect way to illustrate scientific concepts, he said.
“Newton’s laws describe football players on the field just as well as carts on a track or balls rolling down ramps,” Eads says.
“If you’ve ever taken a course in physics, then you may remember terms such as velocity, momentum, force, impulse, collisions and conservation laws. These basic physics concepts and many not-so-basic concepts are important, too, such as how air resistance affects the trajectory of a football in the air.”
Professor Michael Eads
During the talk, Eads will be joined by several players from NIU’s football team for a question-and-answer session on physics and football.
Eads and several members of the Huskie football team also participated in a series of Physics of Football videos that viewers can check out on STEM Outreach’s YouTube channel STEM OutreachNIU.
The STEM Café series is just one of the many engaging events NIU STEM Outreach hosts to increase public awareness of the critical role that STEM fields play in everyday lives.
For more information on upcoming STEM Cafés and other events from NIU STEM Outreach, contact Judith Dymond at (815) 753-4751 or jdymond@niu.edu.
