The NFL found 11 of the Patriots' 12 footballs were under-inflated by 2 pounds of air (PSI)

bostonherald.com ^ | Jan 21, 2015 | Jeff Howe

[Boston Blackie]

The NFL is investigating whether the Patriots deflated footballs that were used in their AFC championship game victory over the Colts.

[stremba]

How would filling with nitrogen do anything? The pressure is independent of the gas used for filling.

[11th Commandment]

Exactly. That's what tires do, same would apply to footballs.

Except, the NFL weighs the balls. Although PSI is subject to temperature, weight is not.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Sore Losers. Your point about the officials being the first and last ones to touch the football is key.

Has anything been posted to state that the original complaint about underinflated footballs came from the Colts? No dog in this fight, though.

The original report said the Patriots could lose draft picks. Big deal.

The precedent has been set for activity like this, and it happened to Sean Payton in Bountygate. If it was deliberate, a year's suspension.

[11th Commandment]

Mythbuster did a show on Helium in footballs.

A regulation NFL football will fly farther when filled with helium as opposed to compressed air at regulation pressure (13 psi).
BUSTED
Under the same amount of impulse force under the same atmospheric conditions, balls filled with helium showed no significant difference from balls filled with compressed air. It was also shown that, under the same impulse, both types of balls had the same initial velocity; since the helium-filled balls have less mass than the air-filled ones, the helium-filled balls have less inertia in flight: in fact, they may perform worse than air-filled balls over larger distances.

[mmichaels1970]

Has anything been posted to state that the original complaint about underinflated footballs came from the Colts?

Yes. From what I've read D'Qwell Jackson of the Colts got an interception and mentioned on the sideline that the ball didn't feel right. That's what started the whole thing.

[stremba]

Weighing the balls would prove nothing. The weight difference (assuming constant temperature measurements and that the underinflation is due to allowing gas to escape) would be on the order of 175 milligrams (about 0.006 oz.). I highly doubt that they are using a scale that can detect that weight difference in an object as heavy as a football.

[kidd]

my mistake
those are gage pressures

P1=12.5 psi(gage) = 27.2 psi (absolute)
T1=80 F = 299.8 K
T2=20 F = 266.5 K

P1/T1 = P2/T2
P2 = P1 (T2/T1) = 27.2 psi x (266.5 K / 299.8 K) = 24.18 psi (absolute) = 9.5 psi (gage)

Conclusion: The cold temperature accounts for ALL of the underinflation.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Ok. Thank you for that. Not really sure how I missed it.

[SZonian]

Actually, there’s a rubber bladder inside the leather shell...the “stretch” factor should be practically non-existent.

I watched “How it’s made”, that’s how I know...

[mmichaels1970]

Physicist: Cold weather couldn’t have deflated Patriots’ footballs

snip...

The chair of Boston College’s physics department is shooting down claims that cold weather could be the reason some of the footballs used on the field Sunday evening during the New England Patriots’ 45-7 drubbing of the Indianapolis Colts may have been deflated. “The pressure loss due to the temperature alone cannot be the issue in my mind,” said BC physics professor Michael J. Naughton, after plugging temperature data into a formula that calculates pressure loss. “If the footballs were notably lower pressure, then the only way it could have happened was if someone went in and stuck a needle in the ball and let two-thirds of the gas out, which means it is now up to the NFL to follow the chain of command — but no logical physics can explain the kind of pressure loss they’re talking about.”

[mmichaels1970]

I watched “How it’s made”, that’s how I know...

Nice!!!

[minnesota_bound]

Are not the footballs shared? I would think a basket with all the footballs in them during the game would be a fix. The ref picks a football out of the bin and gives it to either team while the game is going on.

[TBP]

https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/20f.jpg?w=780

[Diana in Wisconsin]

LOL!

[Lovely-Day-For-A-Guinness]

Were it critical to a team's, or player's, performance, the NFL would not allow teams to supply their own game balls. Nor would they allow a range of pressure for balls.

The fact that they specify a range of pressure and allow teams to supply their own balls at worst creates plenty of opportunity for some fudging to occur, and at best creates opportunity for post game controversy (as we're now witnessing).

If the NFL is truly interested in 'fairness,' the referees would supply all balls, each inflated to the exact same weight (no range). The balls would be monitored by sideline officials who verify that each meets specs every time one is put into play, even going so far to tweak their pressure as the temperature changes during the game.

Doing this would mean that Brady, Manning, Luck, et al would be playing with identical balls at any location and under any weather conditions.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Thanks! Bump for later. Gotta go earn a buck! :)

[TBP]

=

[SZonian]

I did stay at a Holiday Inn once.

It would be disingenuous to pretend to be an “expert” on football construction when I’m anything but.

[mmichaels1970]

Are not the footballs shared?

Nope...kinda stupid isn't it?

I would think a basket with all the footballs in them during the game would be a fix.

To think of all the millions of dollars people involved in this game are paid, and you put that one out for free! Right on! I suspect your rule change will be implemented in the VERY near future.

[randita]

The basis for your calculations is wrong. It was 51º at kick off time.

Also, is there some “magic math” to explain why, in the same environment, the Patriots’ balls were under inflated, while the Seahawks’ balls were not?