Deflation experiments show Patriots may have science on their side after all

For those of us who respect and trust the integrity of scientists, this article is worth reading.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/s...-side-after-all.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1

Thomas Healy does not have tickets to the Super Bowl, but he plans to fly to Phoenix with something that is even harder to come by than seats at Sunday's game: the first detailed, experimental data on how atmospheric conditions might have reduced the air pressure in footballs used by the New England Patriots in their victory over the Indianapolis Colts nearly two weeks ago.

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Healy, who provided The New York Times with an advance copy of his technical paper on the experiments, concluded that most or all of the deflation could be explained by ... environmental factors.

HeadSmart have been nothing short of fantastic when it comes to this stuff.

Patters said:

For those of us who respect and trust the integrity of scientists, this article is worth reading.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/s...-side-after-all.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1

Thomas Healy does not have tickets to the Super Bowl, but he plans to fly to Phoenix with something that is even harder to come by than seats at Sunday's game: the first detailed, experimental data on how atmospheric conditions might have reduced the air pressure in footballs used by the New England Patriots in their victory over the Indianapolis Colts nearly two weeks ago.

...

Healy, who provided The New York Times with an advance copy of his technical paper on the experiments, concluded that most or all of the deflation could be explained by ... environmental factors.

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While this support is good news it still boggles my mind that we had to go through national hysteria for a week (so far) and enlist an army of scientists to explain what every kid who has ever shot hoops in the driveway in January has known since inflated balls were invented. Cold deflates the ball!

Great article, but i dont understand the following paragraph.
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Still, several loose ends ensure that the controversy is not close to finished. If the Colts’ footballs were properly inflated, as they reportedly were, it might indicate that they were handled differently or inflated more fully to start with. If it turns out that both sets of balls were inflated and handled similarly, the N.F.L. is back to the likelihood that there was tampering by the Patriots.
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So if the pats balls obeyed the laws of physics and the Colt didn't. The Pats cheated?

PlainOldEd said:

So if the pats balls obeyed the laws of physics and the Colt didn't. The Pats cheated?

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Right. You've got it.

PlainOldEd said:

Great article, but i dont understand the following paragraph.
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Still, several loose ends ensure that the controversy is not close to finished. If the Colts’ footballs were properly inflated, as they reportedly were, it might indicate that they were handled differently or inflated more fully to start with. If it turns out that both sets of balls were inflated and handled similarly, the N.F.L. is back to the likelihood that there was tampering by the Patriots.
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So if the pats balls obeyed the laws of physics and the Colt didn't. The Pats cheated?

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That paragraph is faulty in its logic. The only way cheating would be implied is if both sets of balls were inflated cold and/or not prepped by rubbing immediately before inspection.

If both sets of balls were inflated warm and prepped before insppection, then the NFL should look towards tampering by the Colts. Are journalists paid to think anymore?

well the fact that the physics community is involved can't be bad.

Key questions:
Did the Colts balls arrive in NE already "full"?
How long after the colts balls were moved inside were they pressure checked?
Was additional air added by the Colts before the final pressure check by the refs (if there was one).
Was the ball drained of air and then refilled or just topped off? (I would assume just topped off if at all).

How long after the Pats preparation process (which raises air temp inside the ball somewhat) was the pressure test done, if done at all?

What were the pressure readings by refs (if they did one) at pressure check for each team's balls?

What were they at halftime?

If the Colts balls were cold upon being brought in and the colts added more air, it would explain why the balls might have been legal at refs' pressure check and still barely legal after being outside. If they filled it to 13PSI in indy, it arrives in NE kind of flat, they fill it up to 13 again. The 13PSI cold ball becomes 12.5PSI in the rain. So the colts balls DID deflate, they just did it on the bus ride over.

If the Pat's footballs obeyed the laws of physics and psi went down...and the Colts balls stayed the "same" (I don't believe they did, but all the haters keep saying this so I'm just going with that narrative) then the investigation should close on the Pats and a new one should be opened on the Colts as the laws of physics does not discriminate and for their footballs to NOT change should smell a little bit like horse manure (pun intended).

Good for Healey, the kid seems ambitious and he's obviously smart, not a bad combo at all.

I agree with others, seeing this turn scientific in the media is a good sign, because if the Pats are to be exonerated it'll have to be through science. We really don't have any real info on what the Colts balls measured at pre- and mid-game so I wouldn't get hung up on that. It may be that Walt Anderson told the NFL 'Pats measured at the low end of acceptable, Colts at the high end'; if at mid-game the Colts were on the low end they may not have even given it a second thought and been focused on the Pats balls being out of range. Additionally, the Colts may break their footballs in well before they're measured, days before even. They may take them outside and Luck throws them around to see what he likes best, pump them up on the field.

There are still so many unknowns, but I like that not only is the science on our side, but the media is starting to pick up on it as well.

So just to confirm, no one knows for sure that the Colts footballs were also measured at halftime, right?

Bella*chick said:

So just to confirm, no one knows for sure that the Colts footballs were also measured at halftime, right?

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Until some actual information gets reported, no one can say for sure.

Tony Cahncuhd said:

Until some actual information gets reported, no one can say for sure.

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Or the conditions under which they were re-measured. If you bring the balls back in and they warm up, the pressure will return to the starting point.

buile said:

Or the conditions under which they were re-measured. If you bring the balls back in and they warm up, the pressure will return to the starting point.

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This is the key along with at what temp the balls were filled.

We may never know what the actual pressures were of either teams ball, before or after.

Is it too much to hope that the Colts equipment guy took a little air out of the intercepted ball to make sure the refs suspected foul play, and they are looking for THAT video?

buile said:

Or the conditions under which they were re-measured. If you bring the balls back in and they warm up, the pressure will return to the starting point.

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Takes a while to warm up a ball. Especially water logged.

kennyb said:

Takes a while to warm up a ball. Especially water logged.

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Yup. Evaporative cooling.

kennyb said:

Takes a while to warm up a ball. Especially water logged.

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Same time to warm up as cool down, *except* as you nicely call out: i expect a wet ball to take longer to change temp. If I remember way back to high school physics, i think that's called 'specific gravity'?

buile said:

Same time to warm up as cool down, *except* as you nicely call out: i expect a wet ball to take longer to change temp. If I remember way back to high school physics, i think that's called 'specific gravity'?

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Specific heat I believe.

Exposing a warm ball to cold rain which has a high specific heat would cool it down much faster than exposing a cold wet ball to dry air. Air has a low specific heat.

And the ball is now water logged where before it was just the leather and air which needed cooling now it's leather water and air which needs warming.