1 00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,560 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff, 2 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:10,680 Speaker 1: Lauren vogelbomb here with a classic episode for all you 3 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: fall football fanatics, with a crossover into the physics of 4 00:00:13,640 --> 00:00:17,680 Speaker 1: field goalflight. In this one, we're talking about how the 5 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:21,400 Speaker 1: high altitude of certain NFL stadiums can actually make a 6 00:00:21,400 --> 00:00:26,759 Speaker 1: difference and how far a ball will go. Hey Brainstuff, 7 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,479 Speaker 1: Lauren vogelbaumb here. Imagine a fine afternoon in Denver, the 8 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:34,720 Speaker 1: Mile High City. Behind quarterback Peyton Manning's explosive offensive, the 9 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:36,800 Speaker 1: Denver Broncos have a massed to ten to two record. 10 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:40,160 Speaker 1: Today they're hosting the Tennessee Titans, a squad that's lost 11 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:43,199 Speaker 1: three of its past four games. The Titans have put 12 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:45,480 Speaker 1: up a good fight over the first half hour of gameplay. 13 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:48,880 Speaker 1: Three seconds before halftime, the score is Tennessee twenty one, 14 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:54,040 Speaker 1: Denver seventeen. Enter Broncos kicker Matt Prater trotting out to 15 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:56,520 Speaker 1: the Denver forty six yard line. He readies himself for 16 00:00:56,560 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: the play of his life. A mighty kick sends the 17 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:01,800 Speaker 1: ball soaring and end across the field as a nervous 18 00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:05,800 Speaker 1: crowd holds its breadth and then the place erupts with ease, 19 00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:08,320 Speaker 1: the ball sales through the yellow cross bar in Tennessee's 20 00:01:08,440 --> 00:01:11,880 Speaker 1: end zone. It's the longest completed field goal in NFL history, 21 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:15,280 Speaker 1: a perfectly made sixty four yard drill a ferrometric friends 22 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 1: that's about fifty eight meters. Perhaps emboldened by Prayder's heroics, 23 00:01:19,319 --> 00:01:21,360 Speaker 1: the Broncos go on to crush the Titans of the 24 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:25,319 Speaker 1: second half, thus clinching a playoff berth. The game I 25 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 1: just described took place on December eighth, twenty thirteen. Today, 26 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: Prayder's sixty four yarders still holds the all time distance record, 27 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 1: although his accomplishment has never been bested. Jaw Dropping football 28 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: kicks are nothing new in the Rocky Mountains. Three of 29 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:41,680 Speaker 1: the five longest field goals that the NFL has ever 30 00:01:41,720 --> 00:01:46,040 Speaker 1: seen were made in Denver's Mile High Stadium. Bronco's great 31 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:48,920 Speaker 1: Jason Elam nailed a sixty three yarder there in nineteen 32 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:51,760 Speaker 1: ninety eight, a feat that was matched by Sebastian Jankowski 33 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:54,400 Speaker 1: when his Oakland Raiders came to town thirteen years later. 34 00:01:55,200 --> 00:01:57,400 Speaker 1: But to hear some sports fans tell it, those three 35 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 1: kicks should have asterisks attached. Elevation of Colorado's capital is 36 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: exactly one mile that's one thousand, six hundred and nine 37 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: meters above sea level. No other NFL city sits anywhere 38 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: close to that altitude. The runner up is Glendale, Arizona, 39 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:14,480 Speaker 1: which is just one thousand feet or three hundred meters 40 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 1: above sea level. Denver's elevation does affect the sporting events 41 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:21,440 Speaker 1: up there. When a football is kicked at Bronco's home game, 42 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:23,520 Speaker 1: it's apt to cover more distance than it would in 43 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: lower elevations. And this doesn't just affect three point field goals. 44 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,600 Speaker 1: Kickoffs tend to go farther as well. There's a book 45 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 1: called Football Physics, the Science of the Game by one 46 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:36,840 Speaker 1: University of Nebraska professor Timothy Gay. For it, he ran 47 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:39,239 Speaker 1: the numbers on eight different teams from cities that sit 48 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 1: more or less at sea level, like the Miami Dolphins 49 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: and the New England Patriots, that played at least one 50 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:46,880 Speaker 1: road game in Denver during the two thousand and one 51 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:49,560 Speaker 1: or two thousand and two seasons. He found that in 52 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 1: those two years, the visiting kickers from low elevation towns 53 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,800 Speaker 1: enjoyed some great numbers when they went to Denver up 54 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:59,119 Speaker 1: in Colorado. Their kickoffs traveled seventy point one yards that's 55 00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:02,760 Speaker 1: sixty four meters on average. Back in their respective home fields, 56 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:05,840 Speaker 1: the average kickoff distance dropped by seven point three yards 57 00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: that's six point six meters. To understand those numbers, we'll 58 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,360 Speaker 1: need to talk about air density. Pretend, as I'm sure 59 00:03:13,400 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 1: you want to, that you have a jet pack. If 60 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 1: you were to take off at sea level and travel 61 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:21,280 Speaker 1: through Earth's atmosphere in a straight line up, the density 62 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:23,360 Speaker 1: of the air around you would get lower as your 63 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:27,440 Speaker 1: altitude increased. This is due to a universal law. As 64 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:30,520 Speaker 1: the distance between two objects grows, the gravitational pull that 65 00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:34,040 Speaker 1: they exert on each other lessens, and air molecules are 66 00:03:34,080 --> 00:03:37,160 Speaker 1: not exempt. The pull of Earth's gravity is more strongly 67 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:40,120 Speaker 1: felt by molecules that are closer to the planet's center 68 00:03:40,800 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: at or below sea level. Gravitational attraction packs the molecules 69 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:47,200 Speaker 1: tightly together, and the weight of the molecules sitting higher 70 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:49,360 Speaker 1: up in the atmosphere really bears down on the ones 71 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 1: occupying low elevations. In consequence, the air itself grows denser 72 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:57,000 Speaker 1: the closer you get to the surface. Way up in 73 00:03:57,040 --> 00:03:59,520 Speaker 1: the mile high city, the air's only about eighty two 74 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: percent as dense as it is at sea level. A 75 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: ball kicked skyward in Denver will therefore encounter fewer air 76 00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:08,680 Speaker 1: molecules than it would in Miami. That's important to note 77 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 1: because air molecules create drag. Drag is a force that 78 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:16,040 Speaker 1: pushes against solid bodies as they travel through fluids or gases. 79 00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:18,880 Speaker 1: A punted or kicked football will run headlong into a 80 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:22,480 Speaker 1: steady barrage of air molecules. Their combined drag will slow 81 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:26,599 Speaker 1: it down, sometimes dramatically. But remember, in low density air 82 00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:31,040 Speaker 1: molecules are fewer and farther between. Therefore, footballs can and 83 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:35,719 Speaker 1: often do, encounter less drag in Denver. Denver's altitude impacts 84 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:38,640 Speaker 1: baseball as well. A physicist and Red Sox fan Alan 85 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:42,240 Speaker 1: Nathan reports that flyballs at cors Field go approximately five 86 00:04:42,279 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: percent farther than they do at Fenway Park in Boston. 87 00:04:46,080 --> 00:04:49,800 Speaker 1: Yet kicking on the Broncos home turf won't guarantee success 88 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:54,080 Speaker 1: for kickers or punters. Altitude reduces air density and by extension, drag, 89 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 1: but cold weather increases it, and boy, can Colorado get chili. 90 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:02,040 Speaker 1: A twenty eleven survey of NFL statistical records found that 91 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:04,640 Speaker 1: in outdoor games played at temperatures of thirty nine degrees 92 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 1: fahrenheit that's four degrees celsius or lower. Field goal accuracy 93 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:11,320 Speaker 1: drops by one point seven percent, while the average punt 94 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:14,359 Speaker 1: length is about one yard shorter than normal. These findings 95 00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: hold true throughout the league. So it's to Matt Prater's 96 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:20,760 Speaker 1: credit that his record breaking field goals split the uprights 97 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:23,640 Speaker 1: from sixty four yards out even though Denver's temperature had 98 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 1: fallen to just fourteen degrees fahrenheit that's negative ten celsius 99 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:30,600 Speaker 1: at the time. Whatever the weather, kicking specialists need to 100 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:34,279 Speaker 1: be on guard against complacency. Denver's reputation as the mecca 101 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:37,400 Speaker 1: of ultra long field goals is well established across the league. 102 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:40,599 Speaker 1: According to players, that mile high mystique can trick visiting 103 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:44,279 Speaker 1: kickers into overestimating their abilities. We could say that when 104 00:05:44,279 --> 00:05:53,720 Speaker 1: in doubt, always air on the side of caution. Today's 105 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:56,640 Speaker 1: episode is based on the article Physics and Football, How 106 00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:00,000 Speaker 1: Denver's altitude affects field goals on HowStuffWorks dot Com. Written 107 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:03,120 Speaker 1: I'm Mark Mancini. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in 108 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 1: partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang, 109 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:09,679 Speaker 1: four more podcasts, My heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 110 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:12,599 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.