Newton's Laws of Motion
The first law of motion states that things in rest, stay in rest, things in motion, stay in motion unless an outside force is applied to the object. (Law of inertia) The tennis ball will stay in rest unless a player throws the ball up or hits the ball with their racket. The tennis ball will stop moving when someone wins the point and it slowly stops moving due to gravity, air resistance, and friction.
The second law of motion states acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass. The greater the mass, the greater the force needed. When your racket hits the tennis ball, you exert a force on the ball, and then the ball accelerates toward your opponent.
You can find the exact amount of force you exert on the ball by using the equation, force equals acceleration*mass. Acceleration is measured in a unit called meters per second per second. It is not measured in a unit called meters per second because acceleration is not the same thing as speed. Speed is the rate of which an object covers distance, and it is measured in meters per second. Acceleration is the rate at which something is speeding up.
A tennis ball has a mass of .056 kilograms. If you serve a serve that reaches 90 mph or 40.2336 meters per second, then your rate of acceleration is 402.336 m/s/s since acceleration is measured in meters per second per second. You would then do .056*402.336 to find the amount of force you exert on the tennis ball. .056*402.336=22.530816. Since force is measured in Newtons, you exerted 22.530816 Newtons of force on the tennis ball.
The third law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When a tennis player applies turning force to their hips when serving, an equal and opposite force applied to their trunk powers their swing. Also, when you plant your foot on the ground to push off, you push in one direction, and your body goes the other direction. The force you used to push into ground is the force you used to propel forward. That is an action and reaction.
The second law of motion states acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass. The greater the mass, the greater the force needed. When your racket hits the tennis ball, you exert a force on the ball, and then the ball accelerates toward your opponent.
You can find the exact amount of force you exert on the ball by using the equation, force equals acceleration*mass. Acceleration is measured in a unit called meters per second per second. It is not measured in a unit called meters per second because acceleration is not the same thing as speed. Speed is the rate of which an object covers distance, and it is measured in meters per second. Acceleration is the rate at which something is speeding up.
A tennis ball has a mass of .056 kilograms. If you serve a serve that reaches 90 mph or 40.2336 meters per second, then your rate of acceleration is 402.336 m/s/s since acceleration is measured in meters per second per second. You would then do .056*402.336 to find the amount of force you exert on the tennis ball. .056*402.336=22.530816. Since force is measured in Newtons, you exerted 22.530816 Newtons of force on the tennis ball.
The third law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When a tennis player applies turning force to their hips when serving, an equal and opposite force applied to their trunk powers their swing. Also, when you plant your foot on the ground to push off, you push in one direction, and your body goes the other direction. The force you used to push into ground is the force you used to propel forward. That is an action and reaction.
Energy
The tennis ball has kinetic energy during most of the game. It is constantly being served and hit back and forth. You can calculate the kinetic energy of the tennis ball by using the equation, KE=0.5*m*v squared, where m=mass and v=speed.
When the ball collides with the tennis racket, its kinetic energy is turned into elastic energy. Then the racket bends outwards, storing potential energy in the strings. When the strings bend back, the potential energy is elastic energy and then it becomes kinetic energy.
When you press your feet into the court to hit a shot, you use ground reaction forces to build up elastic potential energy. Then you use that elastic potential energy to hit a more powerful shot or serve.
In a serve, most tennis players hit the ball at the peak of the ball toss to create a powerful serve. This maximizes the use of gravitational potential energy. (energy stored in the form of height) You can calculate the gravitational potential energy of the tennis ball by using the equation, PE(grav)=mass*g*height, where g=gravitational field strength.
When the ball collides with the tennis racket, its kinetic energy is turned into elastic energy. Then the racket bends outwards, storing potential energy in the strings. When the strings bend back, the potential energy is elastic energy and then it becomes kinetic energy.
When you press your feet into the court to hit a shot, you use ground reaction forces to build up elastic potential energy. Then you use that elastic potential energy to hit a more powerful shot or serve.
In a serve, most tennis players hit the ball at the peak of the ball toss to create a powerful serve. This maximizes the use of gravitational potential energy. (energy stored in the form of height) You can calculate the gravitational potential energy of the tennis ball by using the equation, PE(grav)=mass*g*height, where g=gravitational field strength.
Inertia
Inertia is a property of matter that continues to be in the existing state at rest unless an outside force acts on it. The moment of inertia in tennis is small since the tennis ball rotates very fast and is constantly moving.