Newton’s Laws

Law of Inertia: Newton’s first law of motion states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest, while an object in motion will stay in motion unless an external force acts upon it (Benjamin, 2019). When a player shoots a basketball, there are several external forces that acts upon the ball (Benjamin, 2019). Firstly, gravity acts upon the ball to pull it down to earth. The player must judge the weight of the ball to be able to find the right line of trajectory so the ball arcs in the basket (Benjamin, 2019). This is shown in stage four when the ball has been released and is moving towards the basketball ring. Newton’s first law is evident in a basketball free throw as the athlete is moving vertically, bending their legs and applying force to the ground to jump slightly. Due to the gravitational force, we must apply larger force.

Law of Force: Newton’s second law of motion states that acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass. The greater the mass of an object being accelerated, the more force needed to accelerate that object (Benjamin, 2019). A basketball has a mass thus player must use the appropriate amount of force when shooting or passing as too much or too little force applied will result to the successful shoot (Benjamin, 2019). This is shown in stage four when the player shoots and releases the ball into the basketball ring.

Law of Equal and Opposite Reaction: Newton’s third law of motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. When a player takes a stride, they put force into the floor, however, the floor has too much mass for the athlete to move it therefore, the force travels back to the athlete and propels them forward (Benjamin, 2019). This is shown in stage two and stage three when an athlete uses knee flexion which applies force straight down into the ground allowing that force to travel back through the athlete to be used to jump. This is also shown in stage 5 in the landing phase because that force that was used to jump then comes back down when the athlete lands on the ground, and goes back into the athletes joints. This may eventually cause injuries as it puts pressure on the ankle joint. However, in basketball players are allowed to take a step when they land so this will help to redistribute that force which will lessen the force put on the joints and will help in injury prevention. Whereas in a sport such as netball, the force cannot be redistributed to lessen the impact on the joints because additional steps are not allowed to be taken.