Comments on: Did the Patriots Deflate Their Balls Or Not? https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/01/31/did-the-patriots-deflate-their-balls-or-not/ Wed, 22 Jul 2015 18:09:28 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.8 By: Élan vital https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/01/31/did-the-patriots-deflate-their-balls-or-not/#comment-475319 Wed, 22 Jul 2015 18:09:28 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=20855#comment-475319 Ouch. Just using the simple form of 1/2 X density X v^2 for the ‘suction’ along a parallell surface only gives ~.015 psi for 30 MPH.

If the stadium were treated as a fat airfoil, then…

I’m most dreadfully embarrassed.

]]> By: Élan Vital https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/01/31/did-the-patriots-deflate-their-balls-or-not/#comment-475318 Tue, 21 Jul 2015 19:26:13 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=20855#comment-475318 Some visual aids to accompany my above comment #13

http://wbdg.org/images/env_wind_3.gif
http://wbdg.org/images/env_wind_5.gif

The oblong Gillete Stadium at 42°05’27.40″ N, 71°15’51.65″ W is oriented south-southeast — north-northwest.

Perhaps, they even closed off the most windward entrances?

]]> By: Élan Vital https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/01/31/did-the-patriots-deflate-their-balls-or-not/#comment-475317 Tue, 21 Jul 2015 14:46:06 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=20855#comment-475317 The wind was peaking around gametime.

Hour 19:
Dew-Point: 44.1 F (6.7 C)
Wind: from the Southeast at 19.6 gusting to 29.9 MPH (17 gusting to 26 KT)

I don’t know the actual time of ‘halftime’ but if it was between hours 21 and 22 the wind had subsided.

Hour 22:
Dew-Point: 46.0 F (7.8 C)
Wind: South at 11.5 MPH (10 KT)

http://www.friendlyforecast.com/usa/archive/archive.php?region=MA&id=156489&date=20150118000000&sort=hour
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I’d propose that the relatively high velocity winds flowing past the entrances of the bowl-like stadium lowered the interior pressure below static atmospheric. — Like a shower curtain drawn towards the spray, the vacuum of a carberator venturi, or the popping of one’s ears when cracking a car window.

If the balls were pumped up to a particular gauge pressure when the indoor air-pressure was low and then checked when the indoor pressure had risen, the guage would then read low.

The combination of (a.) temperature and (b.) Bernoulli can lead to flaccid footballs??

]]> By: MikeN https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/01/31/did-the-patriots-deflate-their-balls-or-not/#comment-475316 Thu, 16 Jul 2015 23:24:39 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=20855#comment-475316 Does anyone consider Bill Nye to be remotely scientific in his video? How can he be given any credibility after that?

]]> By: dean https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/01/31/did-the-patriots-deflate-their-balls-or-not/#comment-475315 Tue, 12 May 2015 22:54:20 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=20855#comment-475315 “b) likely lots of others know about it.”

They have video of a staffer taking a bag of balls from the locker room to the field, and making a 90+ second stop in a bathroom along the way. That bag is the one that had the deflated balls.
Speculation is that person will be fired – if it has not already happened. Since he is unlikely to have done the dirty work on his own: not good.

]]> By: Donal https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/01/31/did-the-patriots-deflate-their-balls-or-not/#comment-475314 Tue, 12 May 2015 18:59:10 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=20855#comment-475314 No, but he had a text trail to the person *deflating* them.

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/01/31/did-the-patriots-deflate-their-balls-or-not/#comment-475313 Tue, 12 May 2015 18:53:11 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=20855#comment-475313 Well, he used the balls but he would not have been the person inflating them.

]]> By: Donal https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/01/31/did-the-patriots-deflate-their-balls-or-not/#comment-475312 Tue, 12 May 2015 18:25:13 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=20855#comment-475312 I think football has real trouble with concussions and long term brain injuries, and can’t afford any hint of cheating, too. I think Belichick set the tone for stretching the rules, but Brady was a lot closer to the balls.

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/01/31/did-the-patriots-deflate-their-balls-or-not/#comment-475311 Tue, 12 May 2015 16:31:36 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=20855#comment-475311 William, I’m not sure how that works. But I think I agree with what you are implying. Assume for the moment that the team did deflate the balls. I’m not sure if the NFL response is really appropriate. EG the QB is taking a big hit; if they did deflate the balls, a) he did not do this himself and b) likely lots of others know about it.

I assume/guess that the NFL’s intention here is to make sure the Patriots are out of the running for the Super Bowl. In this way they are being punished for taking a SB win that they did not deserve. I would think a better way to do that would be to handicap them some other way. Have them sit out three games and call them all losses, for example, so they could not be in the playoffs, or something along those lines.

]]> By: Willam Moore https://gregladen.com/blog/2015/01/31/did-the-patriots-deflate-their-balls-or-not/#comment-475310 Mon, 11 May 2015 22:25:06 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=20855#comment-475310 With NE losing two draft picks for deflate gate does this mean that two kids won’t get drafted – one in first round 2016 and one in the fourth round 2017?

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