The Science of Cold Wet Balls + Two Theories

Mods ...please don't merge!!!

In today's Patriots Rebuttal, I learned two bits of info that struck me as quite odd.

"...just before the footballs came in for halftime measurements, the Patriots footballs were being used while the Colts footballs were being held in trash bags. The Patriots ball boys did not use bags, thereby exposing the footballs more to the rain."

The Colts prefer to protect their game balls from the elements while NE chooses to expose their game balls to the elements. This fascinates me. And because most PatsFans truly believe NE is the most thorough organization that leaves no stone unturned (not always a bad thing)......let's figure out why NE likes cold wet balls.
First...let's hit the science of water and heat. We know that man can survive standing in 50 degree air...no problem... but man will eventually succumb to hypothermia when submerged in 50 degree water. The reason..." your body loses heat about 25 times faster in water than in air of the same temperature." Under these same principals, we choose to chill a wine bottle in ice rather than place it it a much colder freezer.....because frozen water draws the heat out of the bottle much faster. Common knowledge at least to us alcoholics. Conclusion ...heat get pulled out of a wet football faster than a dry football.
Next bit of science.....rain descending from the upper atmosphere is initially much colder than surface temperature. Fair enough to assume the rain bathing NE's exposed footballs is colder than air temperature and never heats up to air temperature because the rain is constant.
Let's not forget windchill. Wind hitting rain soaked balls will drop the temperature even lower.
Summing up the science....multiple factors reducing the temperature of exposed footballs. Cold rain, added wind chill with water drawing out heat inside the football.....

...yet NE doesn't protect its balls from the elements. The team that covers all of its bases (usually) is seemingly so negligent? I doubt it. The football can always be wiped reasonably dry .
Theory #1 ....NE exposes their footballs like this to reduce ball air pressure. Evil geniuses??? Maybe. The counter argument, at least in terms of this deflategate nonsense, is that the team would have done a better job explaining the science they utilize rather than what they initially offered.
Theory #2.....Instead of asking NE why their ball pressure dropped appropriately (my poetic license here) given the game day atmospheric conditions, why didn't Wells investigate why the Colts balls failed to drop the scientifically expected levels. Excuses have been offered...1) no tampering, 2) different gauges 3) and now the enclosed bag.
So lets talk about that enclosed bag. Has the league defined the appropriate type of holding bag that must be deployed? Does the league inspect the inside of these bags before during and after these games?
Did the league inspect this bag on this particular game. Sure, I'm playing devils advocate here....BUT....I own a light weight heating pad for my back and it is burning hot and weighs maybe 6 ounces. Pop a couple of these bad boys in a concealed bag and you'll have steamy hot balls. FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Back to the science....lots of external factors could have helped contribute to the disparity in ball temperatures...and from my reading of these reports, the Wells scientists failed to accurately attribute ALL the various conditions of time, moisture, wind chill, different type bags

In addition, no where have I seen any acknowledgement of the fact that a significant Low Pressure area moved through Foxboro that night. This means that when the balls were inflated and tested by the refs at one pressure and then retested much later when the atmospheric pressure was much (relatively speaking) lower, the ball pressure as tested would be different due to the change in atmospheric pressure. This is because most gauges measure pressure relative to atmospheric pressure. When dealing in tenths of a pound, this could be significant.

Also I might throw in that when precision gauges are used, they are always calibrated and certified by a testing standards laboratory. I don't know if the gauges in question were calibrated gauges or not but if they were then their should have been correction information available permitting changes in temperature and atmospheric pressure to be used to correct the observed pressure. In addition, precision gauges most always have a measurement tolerance established based on statistical testing. So the question becomes, did the gauges have a statistical tolerance suitable to detect changes in pressure of .1 pound or not. No where have I read anything that truly addresses the measurement instrumentation used in this issue.

At this point, there is enough data to support the argument that natural forces could cause footballs
to experience a drop in psi similar to that which occurred in the AFCC…

…but that's really no longer the issue. What is now really the issue is this:

Did either Mac or Jaz, or both, stick a needle in the game balls After the zebras gave them their OK?
And if he/they did, was the deed done at the implied or direct request of TB?

If neither of them used a post-inspection needle, then the team owes it to themselves and to us to fight
this punishment with every bone in its collective body, by whatever means necessary.

If, however, the opposite is true, then…we're screwed.

I know it was Deus that first brought up the interesting note of the fact that the Patriots had an overwhelming time of possession before the half 4:54 to 9 seconds where the Colts only did a kneel down.

Someone else then posted the fact that it was more than this. That was just 5 minutes of game time. In fact, the Patriots were out on the field for a real life 15 minutes.

So we have Patriot footballs exposed out in the rain and being played with for the last 15 minutes of the game.

And we have the Colt footballs safely tucked away and potentially warming up in a dry trashbag.

If wet exposed footballs account for any psi loss it is overwhelmingly in the Patriots favor.

I think that more than enough uncertainty exits when it comes to the pressure of the footballs that this is no longer an issue. Godell almost certainly realizes this by now and will probably be open to rescinding any punishment administered for ball deflation.

It's the uncooperation of Brady and the Pats that sticks out here and I am not so sure Godell will be so open to rescinding any penalty imposed for this infraction. Certainly not so at the league level though, possibly at the player level, if Brady's team can plead their case well.