WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Do Footballs Fly Farther in Denver?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren vogelbomb here with a classic episode for all you

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<v Speaker 1>fall football fanatics, with a crossover into the physics of

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<v Speaker 1>field goalflight. In this one, we're talking about how the

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<v Speaker 1>high altitude of certain NFL stadiums can actually make a

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<v Speaker 1>difference and how far a ball will go. Hey Brainstuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren vogelbaumb here. Imagine a fine afternoon in Denver, the

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<v Speaker 1>Mile High City. Behind quarterback Peyton Manning's explosive offensive, the

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<v Speaker 1>Denver Broncos have a massed to ten to two record.

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<v Speaker 1>Today they're hosting the Tennessee Titans, a squad that's lost

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<v Speaker 1>three of its past four games. The Titans have put

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<v Speaker 1>up a good fight over the first half hour of gameplay.

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<v Speaker 1>Three seconds before halftime, the score is Tennessee twenty one,

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<v Speaker 1>Denver seventeen. Enter Broncos kicker Matt Prater trotting out to

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<v Speaker 1>the Denver forty six yard line. He readies himself for

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<v Speaker 1>the play of his life. A mighty kick sends the

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<v Speaker 1>ball soaring and end across the field as a nervous

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<v Speaker 1>crowd holds its breadth and then the place erupts with ease,

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<v Speaker 1>the ball sales through the yellow cross bar in Tennessee's

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<v Speaker 1>end zone. It's the longest completed field goal in NFL history,

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<v Speaker 1>a perfectly made sixty four yard drill a ferrometric friends

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<v Speaker 1>that's about fifty eight meters. Perhaps emboldened by Prayder's heroics,

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<v Speaker 1>the Broncos go on to crush the Titans of the

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<v Speaker 1>second half, thus clinching a playoff berth. The game I

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<v Speaker 1>just described took place on December eighth, twenty thirteen. Today,

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<v Speaker 1>Prayder's sixty four yarders still holds the all time distance record,

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<v Speaker 1>although his accomplishment has never been bested. Jaw Dropping football

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<v Speaker 1>kicks are nothing new in the Rocky Mountains. Three of

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<v Speaker 1>the five longest field goals that the NFL has ever

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<v Speaker 1>seen were made in Denver's Mile High Stadium. Bronco's great

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<v Speaker 1>Jason Elam nailed a sixty three yarder there in nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>ninety eight, a feat that was matched by Sebastian Jankowski

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<v Speaker 1>when his Oakland Raiders came to town thirteen years later.

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<v Speaker 1>But to hear some sports fans tell it, those three

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<v Speaker 1>kicks should have asterisks attached. Elevation of Colorado's capital is

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<v Speaker 1>exactly one mile that's one thousand, six hundred and nine

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<v Speaker 1>meters above sea level. No other NFL city sits anywhere

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<v Speaker 1>close to that altitude. The runner up is Glendale, Arizona,

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<v Speaker 1>which is just one thousand feet or three hundred meters

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<v Speaker 1>above sea level. Denver's elevation does affect the sporting events

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<v Speaker 1>up there. When a football is kicked at Bronco's home game,

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<v Speaker 1>it's apt to cover more distance than it would in

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<v Speaker 1>lower elevations. And this doesn't just affect three point field goals.

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<v Speaker 1>Kickoffs tend to go farther as well. There's a book

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<v Speaker 1>called Football Physics, the Science of the Game by one

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<v Speaker 1>University of Nebraska professor Timothy Gay. For it, he ran

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<v Speaker 1>the numbers on eight different teams from cities that sit

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<v Speaker 1>more or less at sea level, like the Miami Dolphins

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<v Speaker 1>and the New England Patriots, that played at least one

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<v Speaker 1>road game in Denver during the two thousand and one

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<v Speaker 1>or two thousand and two seasons. He found that in

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<v Speaker 1>those two years, the visiting kickers from low elevation towns

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<v Speaker 1>enjoyed some great numbers when they went to Denver up

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<v Speaker 1>in Colorado. Their kickoffs traveled seventy point one yards that's

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<v Speaker 1>sixty four meters on average. Back in their respective home fields,

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<v Speaker 1>the average kickoff distance dropped by seven point three yards

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<v Speaker 1>that's six point six meters. To understand those numbers, we'll

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<v Speaker 1>need to talk about air density. Pretend, as I'm sure

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<v Speaker 1>you want to, that you have a jet pack. If

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<v Speaker 1>you were to take off at sea level and travel

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<v Speaker 1>through Earth's atmosphere in a straight line up, the density

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<v Speaker 1>of the air around you would get lower as your

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<v Speaker 1>altitude increased. This is due to a universal law. As

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<v Speaker 1>the distance between two objects grows, the gravitational pull that

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<v Speaker 1>they exert on each other lessens, and air molecules are

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<v Speaker 1>not exempt. The pull of Earth's gravity is more strongly

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<v Speaker 1>felt by molecules that are closer to the planet's center

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<v Speaker 1>at or below sea level. Gravitational attraction packs the molecules

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<v Speaker 1>tightly together, and the weight of the molecules sitting higher

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<v Speaker 1>up in the atmosphere really bears down on the ones

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<v Speaker 1>occupying low elevations. In consequence, the air itself grows denser

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<v Speaker 1>the closer you get to the surface. Way up in

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<v Speaker 1>the mile high city, the air's only about eighty two

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<v Speaker 1>percent as dense as it is at sea level. A

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<v Speaker 1>ball kicked skyward in Denver will therefore encounter fewer air

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<v Speaker 1>molecules than it would in Miami. That's important to note

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<v Speaker 1>because air molecules create drag. Drag is a force that

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<v Speaker 1>pushes against solid bodies as they travel through fluids or gases.

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<v Speaker 1>A punted or kicked football will run headlong into a

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<v Speaker 1>steady barrage of air molecules. Their combined drag will slow

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<v Speaker 1>it down, sometimes dramatically. But remember, in low density air

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<v Speaker 1>molecules are fewer and farther between. Therefore, footballs can and

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<v Speaker 1>often do, encounter less drag in Denver. Denver's altitude impacts

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<v Speaker 1>baseball as well. A physicist and Red Sox fan Alan

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<v Speaker 1>Nathan reports that flyballs at cors Field go approximately five

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<v Speaker 1>percent farther than they do at Fenway Park in Boston.

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<v Speaker 1>Yet kicking on the Broncos home turf won't guarantee success

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<v Speaker 1>for kickers or punters. Altitude reduces air density and by extension, drag,

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<v Speaker 1>but cold weather increases it, and boy, can Colorado get chili.

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<v Speaker 1>A twenty eleven survey of NFL statistical records found that

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<v Speaker 1>in outdoor games played at temperatures of thirty nine degrees

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<v Speaker 1>fahrenheit that's four degrees celsius or lower. Field goal accuracy

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<v Speaker 1>drops by one point seven percent, while the average punt

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<v Speaker 1>length is about one yard shorter than normal. These findings

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<v Speaker 1>hold true throughout the league. So it's to Matt Prater's

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<v Speaker 1>credit that his record breaking field goals split the uprights

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<v Speaker 1>from sixty four yards out even though Denver's temperature had

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<v Speaker 1>fallen to just fourteen degrees fahrenheit that's negative ten celsius

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<v Speaker 1>at the time. Whatever the weather, kicking specialists need to

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<v Speaker 1>be on guard against complacency. Denver's reputation as the mecca

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<v Speaker 1>of ultra long field goals is well established across the league.

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<v Speaker 1>According to players, that mile high mystique can trick visiting

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<v Speaker 1>kickers into overestimating their abilities. We could say that when

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<v Speaker 1>in doubt, always air on the side of caution. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode is based on the article Physics and Football, How

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<v Speaker 1>Denver's altitude affects field goals on HowStuffWorks dot Com. Written

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Mark Mancini. Brain Stuff is production of iHeartRadio in

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<v Speaker 1>partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang,

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<v Speaker 1>four more podcasts, My heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

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