1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:10,800 Speaker 1: Lauren Bogelbam Here. Imagine a fine afternoon in Denver, the 3 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 1: Mile High City. Behind quarterback Peyton Manning's explosive offensive, the 4 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:17,080 Speaker 1: Denver Broncos of a mast to tend to two record. 5 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:20,439 Speaker 1: Today they're hosting the Tennessee Titans, a squad that's lost 6 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:23,480 Speaker 1: three of its past four games. The Titans have put 7 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:25,759 Speaker 1: up a good fight over the first half hour of gameplay. 8 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:30,400 Speaker 1: Three seconds before halftime, the score is Tennessee Denver seventeen. 9 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:34,680 Speaker 1: Enter Broncos kicker Matt Prator trotting out to the Denver 10 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:37,240 Speaker 1: forty six yard line. He readies himself for the play 11 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: of his life. A mighty kick sends the ball soaring 12 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:42,400 Speaker 1: end over end across the field. As a nervous crowd 13 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 1: holds its breadth, and then the place erupts with ease. 14 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:48,640 Speaker 1: The ball sails through the yellow cross bar in Tennessee's 15 00:00:48,720 --> 00:00:52,159 Speaker 1: end zone. It's the longest completed field goal in NFL history, 16 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 1: a perfectly made sixty four yard drill for a metric friends, 17 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: that's about fifty eight meters. Perhaps emboldened by prators heroics, 18 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:01,640 Speaker 1: the Bronchs go on to crush the Titans of the 19 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: second half, thus clinching a playoff berth. The game I 20 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:10,040 Speaker 1: just described took place on December eight Today, prater sixty 21 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: four yard or still holds the all time distance record, 22 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:16,200 Speaker 1: although his accomplishment has never been bested. Jaw Dropping football 23 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: kicks are nothing new in the Rocky Mountains. Three of 24 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:21,959 Speaker 1: the five longest field goals that the NFL has ever 25 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: seen were made in Denver's mile high Stadium. Bronco's great 26 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:28,840 Speaker 1: Jason Elam nailed a sixty three yard or there in 27 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:32,480 Speaker 1: a feat that was matched by Sebastian Janikowski when his 28 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: Oakland Raiders came to town thirteen years later. But to 29 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:38,320 Speaker 1: hear some sports fans tell it, those three kicks should 30 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:42,200 Speaker 1: have asterix attached. The official elevation of Colorado's capital is 31 00:01:42,200 --> 00:01:45,240 Speaker 1: exactly one mile that's one thousand, six hundred and nine 32 00:01:45,319 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 1: meters above sea level. No other NFL city sits anywhere 33 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:52,120 Speaker 1: close to that altitude. Of The runner up is Glendale, Arizona, 34 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:54,800 Speaker 1: which is just one thousand feet or three hundred meters 35 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:58,960 Speaker 1: above sea level. Denver's elevation does affect the sporting events 36 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: up there. When a football is kicked as Broncos home game, 37 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:03,800 Speaker 1: it's apt to cover more distance than it would in 38 00:02:03,880 --> 00:02:07,559 Speaker 1: lower elevations. And this doesn't just affect three point field goals. 39 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: Kickoffs tend to go farther as well. There's a book 40 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: called Football Physics, The Science of the Game, by one 41 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 1: University of Nebraska professor Timothy Gay. For it, he ran 42 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:19,519 Speaker 1: the numbers on eight different teams from cities that sit 43 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 1: more or less at sea level, like the Miami Dolphins 44 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 1: and the New England Patriots, that played at least one 45 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 1: road game in Denver during the two thousand one or 46 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: two thousand two seasons. He found that in those two years, 47 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:34,360 Speaker 1: the visiting kickers from low elevation towns enjoyed some great numbers. 48 00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: When they went to Denver. Up in Colorado, their kickoffs 49 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 1: traveled seventy point one yards that's sixty four meters on average. 50 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:44,400 Speaker 1: Back in their respective home fields, the average kickoff distance 51 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 1: dropped by seven point three yards that's six point six meters. 52 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:52,760 Speaker 1: To understand those numbers, will need to talk about air density. Pretend, 53 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:55,079 Speaker 1: as I'm sure you want to, that you have a 54 00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:57,520 Speaker 1: jet back if you were to take off at sea 55 00:02:57,600 --> 00:03:00,959 Speaker 1: level and travel through Earth's atmosphere in a straight line up, 56 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:03,360 Speaker 1: The density of the air around you would get lower 57 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:07,080 Speaker 1: as your altitude increased. This is due to a universal law. 58 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 1: As the distance between two objects grows, the gravitational pull 59 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:14,160 Speaker 1: that they exert on each other. Lessons and air molecules 60 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 1: are not exempt. The poll of Earth's gravity is more 61 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:20,000 Speaker 1: strongly felt by molecules that are closer to the planet's 62 00:03:20,080 --> 00:03:24,040 Speaker 1: center at or below sea level. Gravitational attraction packs the 63 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: molecules tightly together, and the weight of the molecules sitting 64 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:29,440 Speaker 1: higher up in the atmosphere really bears down on the 65 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:33,560 Speaker 1: ones occupying low elevations. In consequence, the air itself grows 66 00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: denser the closer you get to the surface. Way up 67 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:39,320 Speaker 1: in the mile high city, the air is only about 68 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: eighty two percent as dense as it is at sea level. 69 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 1: A bald kicked skyward in Denver will therefore encounter fewer 70 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:48,760 Speaker 1: air molecules than it would in Miami. That's important to 71 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:52,920 Speaker 1: note because air molecules create drag. Drag is a force 72 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:55,680 Speaker 1: that pushes against solid bodies as they travel through fluids 73 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:58,920 Speaker 1: or gases. A punted or kicked football will run headlong 74 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 1: into a steady barrage of air molecules. Their combined drag 75 00:04:02,360 --> 00:04:06,280 Speaker 1: will slow it down, sometimes dramatically. But remember, in low 76 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: density air molecules are fewer and farther between. Therefore, footballs 77 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 1: can and often do, encounter less drag in Denver. Denver's 78 00:04:15,280 --> 00:04:18,359 Speaker 1: altitude impacts baseball as well. A physicist and Red Sox 79 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:21,640 Speaker 1: fan Alan Nathan reports that flyballs at Coors Field go 80 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:24,440 Speaker 1: approximately five percent farther than they do at Fenway Park 81 00:04:24,480 --> 00:04:29,080 Speaker 1: in Boston. Yet kicking on the Broncos home turf won't 82 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:33,159 Speaker 1: guarantee success for kickers or punters. Altitude reduces air density 83 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 1: and by extension, drag, but cold weather increases it, and 84 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:41,919 Speaker 1: boy can Colorado get chili. Survey of NFL statistical records 85 00:04:41,920 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: found that in outdoor games played at temperatures of thirty 86 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:47,840 Speaker 1: nine degrees faheit that's four degrees celsius or lower, field 87 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:51,039 Speaker 1: goal accuracy drops by one point seven percent, while the 88 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:53,599 Speaker 1: average punt length is about one yard shorter than normal. 89 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: These findings hold true throughout the league, so it's to 90 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:00,480 Speaker 1: Matt Prador's credit that his record breaking field goal split 91 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:03,360 Speaker 1: the uprights from sixty four yards out, even though Denver's 92 00:05:03,360 --> 00:05:06,400 Speaker 1: temperature had fallen to just fourteen degrees fahrenheit. That's negative 93 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:10,599 Speaker 1: ten celsius at the time. Whatever the weather, kicking specialists 94 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:14,080 Speaker 1: need to be on guard against complacency. Denver's reputation as 95 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:16,800 Speaker 1: the mecca of ultra long field goals is well established 96 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:20,159 Speaker 1: across the league. According to players, that mile high mystique 97 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: can trick visiting kickers into overestimating their abilities. We could 98 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 1: say that, when in doubt, always air on the side 99 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:34,560 Speaker 1: of caution. Today's episode was written by Mark Mancini and 100 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:37,000 Speaker 1: produced by Tyler Clang for I Heart Media and How 101 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:39,040 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. For more on this and lots of other 102 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:41,599 Speaker 1: kick in topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works 103 00:05:41,640 --> 00:05:53,320 Speaker 1: dot com.