Posted on 01/24/2015 4:07:43 PM PST by Steelfish
Deflate-gate: Patriots Coach Says 'Climatic Conditions' May Have Under-Inflated Balls Jan 24, 2015 By DEAN SCHABNER More From Dean »
New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick today said "climatic conditions" may have been to blame for the footballs that were under-inflated Sunday for the AFC Championship game, and said the team had not tried to tamper with them.
He said the team "followed the rules to the letter," denying any intentional wrongdoing by the Patriots.
"At no time was there any intent whatsoever to try to compromise the integrity of the game or to gain an advantage," Belichick said.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
The tabloids should have a field day with this presser tomorrow.
The Pats’ balls had a bladder infection.
Pinging you, because it seem that you might have called this first.
You are full of good ideas !
True that. Wet air could give a similar result.
You have two approaches there.
1) Condensation
2) Adsorption
You could pick a gas that will condense a the field conditions.
You could pick a gas that gets adsorbed into the football.
Hmmm. We could even pick a gas that is hard to contain. That it easily permeates through the football. Such as a small touch of Hydrogen perhaps?
I imagined the officials being right there, to observe the filling. They could read the pressure off the compressor gauge.
Alternatively, they could insert their own pressure gauge right away (as you suggest), and take it outside to observe the pressure change as the temperature lowers.
This would make a great Myth Busters episode.
Thermal Conductivity:
Q = K A z (t1-t2)/b
Q = Quantity of Heater BTU flowing per unit of time
K = Conductivity
A = Unit area
z = thickness
K of Cowhide is 0.10 (assuming that is BTU/hr/ft2/ft/F
- Book doesn’t list it in the tables. It matters, cause sometimes the thickness is done in inches instead of feet.)
PV=nRT
Severe cold has been known to have an effect on balls.
Again, why only a few? Were the Colts’ affected?
I think it is a bizarre rule to begin with - but it is a rule nevertheless and the Patriot obviously cheated and then lied about it. The coverup is usually worse than the crime. Had they just fessed up it would not be so bad. Plus it is quite pathetic because they really didn’t need to do this to wipe out the Colts.
There could be shrinkage.
I'm amazed at the lack of any specifics. Just accusations backed by no facts whatsoever.
“Hmmm. We could even pick a gas that is hard to contain. That it easily permeates through the football. Such as a small touch of Hydrogen perhaps?”
I’m not suggesting that it was deliberate. I could do it... I’d probably use propane. But a honda generator that was running rich powering the compressor would do the same thing.
Lots of folks fill their tires with nitrogen instead of air to eliminate this problem. (it is closer to an ideal gas than air is)
Bottom line, it could have very well been unintentional.
What are the facts? Where is the evidence? What is obvious?
And for the record, I am a Bills fans and hate the Patriots and Dolphins.
This is just a bunch of stupid whining.
I am no Patriots fan but why are people so upset that the Colts got their ass handed to them? Sounds like deflated egos more than anything.
In short, you are in the unenviable position of thinking about preaching Christianity or Buddhism in Teheran. The average clown arguing about "deflategate" is worth just about as much attention as are the typical Allahu Fubar types.
You have more guts than I, mate!
FReegards!
Its even better if you inflate them in a sauna at 115 degrees and take it immediately to the weigh in. I don’t know if that happened, but that might explain it.
So does that explain why half the members of Congress....
Just saying.
There is no rule in the NFL governing the temperature of the air used to inflate footballs. All that the rules cover is pressure. Inflating a ball with 115 degree air, passing the pressure inspection and then playing on a 35 degree playing field an hour or two later, will result in a ball, legally inflated to appropriate pressure that no longer has that pressure. No rules were violated to produce this result.
This was not invented in Foxboro.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.