Gold Medal Physics: The Science of Sports

Mathematically minded readers who’ve always wondered how great athletes do what they do will learn from Goff how to “view the world of sports through the lens of physics.” Goff, a sports enthusiast and Lynchburg College physics professor, is more than comfortable analyzing a variety of feats of physical prowess, such as a spectacular play in the final seconds of a legendary 1982 Stanford-Berkeley college football game. After analyzing that play with its five lateral passes, Goff moves on to stage 16 of Lance Armstrong’s 2004 Tour de France win, and a record-breaking long jump by Bob Beamon at the 1968 Summer Olympics. While the discussion of the mechanics of angular momentum using the spins and rotations of ice skating and diving (Katarina Witt and Greg Louganis, respectively) will be familiar to nearly anyone who’s read a physics textbook, Goff surprises with chapters on how to “bend it like Beckham,” win at sumo wrestling, and use statistics and probability to predict college football outcomes. Sports fans with a knowledge of geometry and trigonometry will enjoy Goff’s cheerful revisiting of memorable athletic events. 70 illus. (Jan.)