How the Patriots did it (if they did it).

JD Barleycorn's Avatar
Everyone is concerned about Tom Brady's balls this week and everyone has a theory but they all make the same mistake. They assume that the balls were good when measured by officials and then altered. So they have to believe (as of now) that an attendant stopped at the bathroom and released the pressure in 11 of 12 balls exactly the same amount in 90 seconds.

It happened this way (if it happened at all); The balls were inflated to what Brady wanted, let's say 12.5 psi. Then the balls were heated in a hot box set to the proper temperature. As the air inside the balls heated, it expanded and the pressure rose. PV=nRT where R is a constant, T is tempature, P is pressure, V is volume, and n is the amount of air. The volume does not appreciably change but when temperature goes up the left side of the equation must also go up which leaves pressure (P). So heating the balls increases the pressure, the official looks at it, the balls are taken to the field and start to cool to ambient. When they reach ambient the pressure in the ball is back to 12.5 psi and no one had to "DO" anything involving a tool.

If you double the temperature then you double the pressure but that is not necessary. You only want to increase the pressure by 20% so you increase the temperature by 51F on the field add that to 273 to get Kelvin or 324K, increase by 64.8K or 384.8K which is (take away 273) 111.8F. So there you have it. Heat the footballs to 112 degrees and you end up with 15 psi of pressure until it cools down.
Wakeup's Avatar
Please stop trying to explain things when you have no idea how this whole science thing works...
Jewish Lawyer's Avatar
Everyone is concerned about Tom Brady's balls this week and everyone has a theory but they all make the same mistake. They assume that the balls were good when measured by officials and then altered. So they have to believe (as of now) that an attendant stopped at the bathroom and released the pressure in 11 of 12 balls exactly the same amount in 90 seconds.

It happened this way (if it happened at all); The balls were inflated to what Brady wanted, let's say 12.5 psi. Then the balls were heated in a hot box set to the proper temperature. As the air inside the balls heated, it expanded and the pressure rose. PV=nRT where R is a constant, T is tempature, P is pressure, V is volume, and n is the amount of air. The volume does not appreciably change but when temperature goes up the left side of the equation must also go up which leaves pressure (P). So heating the balls increases the pressure, the official looks at it, the balls are taken to the field and start to cool to ambient. When they reach ambient the pressure in the ball is back to 12.5 psi and no one had to "DO" anything involving a tool.

If you double the temperature then you double the pressure but that is not necessary. You only want to increase the pressure by 20% so you increase the temperature by 51F on the field add that to 273 to get Kelvin or 324K, increase by 64.8K or 384.8K which is (take away 273) 111.8F. So there you have it. Heat the footballs to 112 degrees and you end up with 15 psi of pressure until it cools down. Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn
I think it is a good explanation. It seems difficult to believe the ballboy (shit, that wold be a good job for WTF) could have uninflated them to the exact same pressure without some type of system.
You can't heat the ball to the point the ref's could tell judy.
This whole controversy over the Psi of the footballs is so fucking stupid. First of all Tom Brady is a talented Quarterback this was not his first playoff game it won't be his last. I seriously doubt any alteration in the balls psi made any real difference in the outcome of the game.


Jim
boardman's Avatar
Obama had it done to distract us from his horrible SOTU address.
JD Barleycorn's Avatar
PV=nRT...do it in metric units.
Stupid me, I thought the ballboy used one of these:

Wakeup's Avatar
PV=nRT...do it in metric units. Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn
Please...stop...
JD Barleycorn's Avatar
Sorry, I thought you may have some Sherlock Holmes books. You can get out of the box if you think about it.
are the ball boys, and thus the balls, under constant video surveillance, pre game (especially) and during the game, while on the sidelines?
The whole thing is fucking ridiculous.

From what I have been hearing ALL quarterbacks are permitted to adjust the pressure a little.

If the ball is very hard, the QB can throw it further, but it is harder to get a good grip, so the QB may get less accuracy or may fumble.

If the ball is very soft, the QB gets a better grip, but looses distance.

So, there is a tradeoff. The QB tries to find the "Goldlocks" pressure that is just right. But you can't really "cheat".

The current reports are that the NFL is going to let the QBs pick their balls the day before and then will guard them until the next day to make sure there is no tampering.

So what happens if Brady goes out and tosses 4 touchdowns, 350+ yards, and 30+ completions? What are all the conspiracy assholes going to say then?
Aaron Rodgers stated he had big hands, and preferred the foot balls over inflated. Is that cheating also?
Aaron Rodgers stated he had big hands, and preferred the foot balls over inflated. Is that cheating also? Originally Posted by i'va biggen
Only if someone decides to gripe about it. Which is what this whole thing is about.


Jim