Deflategate (PV = nRT)

[katie_m]

Massachusetts is a center of learning and one of the best-educated states in the nation. Of course we would come up with a way to make sports fans across the United States dig out their high school chemistry textbooks. YOU'RE WELCOME, AMERICA

Comments

[dxmachina]

Warms my heart and speeds up those little gas molecules it does. Bonus points for having to convert force/area pressure (as in P.S.I) to atmospheric pressure (in inches of Hg). It's a shame I won't be getting to the gas laws in my class for a couple of months (my first class of the semester was tonight), but when I do I foresee a new bonus problem set...

Assume you're an ethically challenged football coach with a sack of footballs each containing 4200 cc of air at a pressure of...

I'm tempted to drop by ProFootball Talk, or a similar board, and start trolling with the van der Waals equation.

[katie_m]

Bonus points for having to convert force/area pressure (as in P.S.I) to atmospheric pressure (in inches of Hg).

Ha, you're right. It really is a perfect exam question!

[barkley]

Instead, I am all, PV = nRT, I am down with that. What are you talking about this thing called deflategate? (Turns out my operations manager in Budapest has been watching more football than I have this year!)

[katie_m]

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU LET PEOPLE GO TO EUROPE.

[thepouncer]

Dude. Statistical analysis and normal distributions: http://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/blog/?p=2932

It's all about fumbles per play and comparison across teams and time.

[katie_m]

Also delightfully nerdy, but slightly less amusing because statistical analysis shows up in sports fandom all of the time. (Granted less often in football than in, say, baseball.)