Caroline's weblog
Wednesday July 19, 2006
Polymers in sports
Organic chemistry is the study of Carbon containing compounds. Carbon is a essential part of polymers. Polymers are made up of repeating monomers - which are small carbon containing covalent compounds. Another word for polymer is plastic. We all deal with plastics every day - in clothes, shoes, cars, soda and water containers.
There are also a lot of polymers used in sports. From the football made from polyurethane to the football field turf made from polyethylene. Both of these polymers are man-made polymers. There are a lot of natural polymers also still in use in the sports industry. For example tennis balls are usually covered in wool, which adds superior playability, consistency and durability to a tennis ball.
So everywhere you look while watching a sporting event or playing one yourself, you will see chemistry in action. Chemists are helping to advance sports all over the world!
Some cool websites are:
A website about sports surfaces - such as turf, playground, and track surfaces.
That doesn't interest you - then maybe a website about a polymer used in shoes and sports equipment will.
Here is a cool pdf about lycra and kevlar - two polymers used in the Olympics but for different reasons. Make sure you have Adobe Acrobat downloaded before you open it.
Here is a website about a new breakthrough in polymer chemistry for use in sports. Scroll down for a description of a polymer.
And finally this a website where you can pick a sport and see what kind of plastic is in use in the sport today.
Posted at 04:49PM Jul 19, 2006 by CHRISTIAN, CAROLINE in Chemistry and sports | Comments[8]
This is a personal weblog, I do not speak for my employer.
I'm really liking all the sports related topics since it takes up nearly 75% of my free time. Soccer in particular, is the sport I play all year round whether it be intermurals in fall, indoor in the winter, and CASL(Capital Area Soccer League) in the spring and summer. I was going through the websites and saw all the polymers(plastics) involved in soccer and what struck me the most was the latex in goalie gloves since I am a keeper and it makes sense because every new pair I buy seem to have that latex aroma about them and the stickyness of the palm really helps. I just thought that was cool
Posted by Jeff on July 19, 2006 at 11:17 PM EDT #
I am really glad that you are liking my sports - topics. I looked over all of your interests, those cards you turned into me the first day, and I noticed that a lot of you enjoyed playing some kind of sports. So I figured, why not post something interesting to you guys! I did not notice that information about the goalie gloves Jeff, thanks for pointing it out to everyone!
Posted by Caroline on July 20, 2006 at 09:12 AM EDT #
Its amazing how much we rely on the use of plastics. Especially in the realm of sports. Sports just wouldn't be the same without plastics. I myself play tennis often and I never realized that thermoplastics, polyethlene and fiberglass were so critical to the game of tennis. One sport I didn't see on the website that showed the plastics used in a sport was basketball. Would you happen to know what plastics are used in basketball? Secondly what can you tell me about astro-turf? I have played soccer on astro-turf and its an amazing feeling. Plastics are definately way better to play on then grass.
Posted by Afshin on August 02, 2006 at 11:40 AM EDT #
If you go to the first website I have listed on the post - and you go down to synthetic turf products, they have a lot of products that are comparable I believe to astro-turf.
Basketball's outer covers are made from leather - which is a natural polymer, and to help it hold air it has an inner liner made from a kind of rubber called polyisobutylene
I am sure that there are also lots of plastics used in the hoops, rims and nets these days as well.
Posted by Caroline on August 02, 2006 at 11:53 AM EDT #
is the tennis net made of polymer too?. I am a big fan of tennis too. Although Americans aren't as good this decade as last. nevertheless, I will still go out and buy sports tickets or watch it on TV if it's good or too expensive.
Posted by Tennis Fan on June 20, 2007 at 11:45 PM EDT #
I never meet a covalent compound that I didn't like!
But seriously folks Caroline is right- where would we be without polymers? What I'd like to see is something I saw in a Star Trek Movie- Transparent Aluminum. Thanks its a great read!
Posted by Nick on August 07, 2007 at 12:57 PM EDT #
Thank you Caroline, for such a nice post. Information about organic chemistry is very valuable. Off course polymers are major raw material being used in Shoes industry as well as in other sports wears and sports goods manufacturing industries.
I really appreciate; you?ve highlighted very valuable information.
Thanks
Babur Schah
Posted by Babur Schah on August 15, 2008 at 08:34 AM EDT #
Those materials are more lighter and more resistants ...
Posted by Foraje on March 22, 2009 at 03:52 PM EDT #