There are multiple types of forces which can be applied to the sport of badminton. These types of forces include: force of gravity, force of friction, force of tension, force of air resistance and force applied. The main force that will be discussed on this page is the force applied which is essentially the swing of the badminton racquet while the rest of the forces will be looked at on the physics relating to badminton equipment page. As well, all three of Newton's laws can be applied to different aspects of badminton and will be analyzed and explained on this page.
Newton's 1st Law
Law: An object at rest or moving at constant velocity tends to stay at rest or moving at constant velocity unless enacted on by an unbalanced force.
-When the birdie is being serves, the player can choose to do a backhand serve which requires them to hold the birdie in front of them at rest. This movement applies to Newton's 1st law because the birdie is the object that wants to stay at rest but when the player swings the racquet and hits the birdie it acts as the unbalanced force that initiates movement from the birdie.
-During a rally, if the birdie is cleared deep for example and is travelling towards you, as it falls, it will be moving at a constant velocity and will continue to move at a constant velocity until enacted on by an unbalanced force which would be you returning the hit and causing the birdie to change both speed and direction.
Newton's 2nd Law
Law: The sum of all the forces(Fnet) equals mass(m) multiplied by acceleration(a), acceleration is proportional to Fnet and acceleration is proportional half the mass of the object.
-According to Newton's 2nd law, acceleration is proportional to Fnet, which is the sum of all the forces. In this case, the force applied by the player and the racquet is the only force acting on the birdie therefore Fnet is equal to the force applied. Therefore if you double the force applied to the birdie, the speed at which the birdie accelerates at will also be doubled.
Newton's 3rd Law
Law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
- When a badminton racquet applies a force to the birdie, the birdie applies an equal and opposite reaction force to the racquet. The reason it is hard to observe the equal reaction of the birdie applying a force back on the racquet is because the racquet is travelling at a much faster than the birdie is falling at and because the mass of the racquet is a lot more than the mass of the birdie. As well the force being applied to the birdie only occurs for a fraction of a second therefore the reaction force from the birdie to the racquet is very minuscule and almost impossible to be seen even in slow motion.
Law: An object at rest or moving at constant velocity tends to stay at rest or moving at constant velocity unless enacted on by an unbalanced force.
-When the birdie is being serves, the player can choose to do a backhand serve which requires them to hold the birdie in front of them at rest. This movement applies to Newton's 1st law because the birdie is the object that wants to stay at rest but when the player swings the racquet and hits the birdie it acts as the unbalanced force that initiates movement from the birdie.
-During a rally, if the birdie is cleared deep for example and is travelling towards you, as it falls, it will be moving at a constant velocity and will continue to move at a constant velocity until enacted on by an unbalanced force which would be you returning the hit and causing the birdie to change both speed and direction.
Newton's 2nd Law
Law: The sum of all the forces(Fnet) equals mass(m) multiplied by acceleration(a), acceleration is proportional to Fnet and acceleration is proportional half the mass of the object.
-According to Newton's 2nd law, acceleration is proportional to Fnet, which is the sum of all the forces. In this case, the force applied by the player and the racquet is the only force acting on the birdie therefore Fnet is equal to the force applied. Therefore if you double the force applied to the birdie, the speed at which the birdie accelerates at will also be doubled.
Newton's 3rd Law
Law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
- When a badminton racquet applies a force to the birdie, the birdie applies an equal and opposite reaction force to the racquet. The reason it is hard to observe the equal reaction of the birdie applying a force back on the racquet is because the racquet is travelling at a much faster than the birdie is falling at and because the mass of the racquet is a lot more than the mass of the birdie. As well the force being applied to the birdie only occurs for a fraction of a second therefore the reaction force from the birdie to the racquet is very minuscule and almost impossible to be seen even in slow motion.
This is a free body diagram of a shuttlecock while at rest before it is hit. The purpose of a free body diagram is to show all of the forces acting on an object at a given time. At this point in time, the birdie would be stationary but would be held by the person serving it. Since it is in the air, there is gravity acting downwards on the birdie and there is force being applied upwards by the player in order to keep the birdie from falling to the ground.
This free body diagram shows the forces acting on the birdie as it is being hit, therefore there is contact with the racquet at this time. the forces shown are force of gravity, force applied and force of air resistance. The force of gravity is calculated by multiplying the mass of the object by acceleration due to gravity which is 9.8m/s squared(down). The force applied on the birdie by the racquet is equal to Fnet which is the sum off all the forces, therefore since Fnet equals mass of the racquet multiplied by acceleration, then the force applied equals mass multiplied by the acceleration of the racquet. The acceleration of the racquet was already found using on of the kinematic equations. Force of air resistance in this case is equal to the drag force which is equal to gravity acting in the opposite direction.
The free body diagrams on the left and the right both show the forces acting on the birdie while it is in flight. The reason that they look different is because when the birdie is travelling upwards, the force of air resistance is opposing the motion of the birdie in the in the downwards direction while when the birdie is travelling downwards, the force of air resistance is opposing the motion of the birdie in the upward direction.
|