Official Kids Mag www.kidscoop.com © Vicki Whiting March 2023
16
Swish! The lovely sound
of a basketball slipping
through the net in the
hoop, so perfectly
centered that the ball
doesn't touch the back
stop or the rim.
When this happens,
a swish through the
net is the only sound
you hear.
And, the ball safely
sinks through to score.
If the ball hits the rim
of the hoop, the chance
of it bouncing out
increases. But to sink
the basketball through
the hoop, swish or not,
a player doesn't throw
the ball at the hoop.
Rather a player uses
knowledge of the
parbolic arc to throw
the ball so that it arcs
over and up high
enough to enter the
basket from above.
A parabola is a curve,
shaped like an arch.
It is also called a
parabolic arc.
The hoop is 18 inches in
diameter. A basketball is about
9.4 inches wide.
If a ball is dunked straight
down into the hoop from
above (a 90 degree angle),
there is plenty of room for the
ball to sink all the way through
the net and score.
But when a player shoots the
ball farther away from the
hoop, the ball needs to be
thrown up at an angle.
Which basketball shot at right
is most likely to score?
At 90 degrees (a dunk shot) the ball will go
straight down into the net with
about 4.5 inches of
extra room.
At 55 degrees it has about
2.5 inches to spare.
At 45 degrees it's down to 1.5 inches.
At 30 degrees, it's basically impossible to get
the ball straight into the basket.
By increasing the height at
which the player launches
the ball, it raises the entry
angle of the ball's parabolic
arc, leaving more space
and a higher
chance of scoring.
Scientists can calculate the
ideal free-throw angle for
players of different heights.
It's 13.75 feet from the
free-throw line to the center
of the basket, and a six-foot
player launches the ball from
about seven feet above the
hardwood. That works out to
a shooting angle of 51°.
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