The Physics Of Basketball | StarTalk
We're exploring the physics of basketball, featuring my interview with NBA All-Star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Check it out. A rebound—in basketball, you have to get a sense of how the thing is going to bounce before the thing makes that bounce so that you can be in the right place at the right time.
What's going through your head when you—how many rebounds? Was it a billion? I think 17,000. 17,000 rebounds. The angle in equals the angle out. So if a shot comes from this angle at the basket, the probability is it's going to take the same angle coming off the other side.
By the way, that's a law. That's a law of optics. The angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection. Right, and it's like a mirror. So you have to understand the angle it's going to come off and then the distance from the rim and backboard that you need to be at to have the optimum opportunity to collect the rebound.
Plus, 101-inch wingspan. [laughs] Well, it helps, but the ability to anticipate is—so we can spend 10 minutes you telling me, I calculate the angle, but then really, I just reach out and grab the ball. No.
There's some people that just stand there. You've got to move. So you were particularly potent because you basically combined your 100-inch wingspan with the knowledge of angle of incidence and angle of reflection.
Right, and what we call hops. What we call hops. Chuck, what are hops? That's a new word for me. In my day, I don't know that I used that word, hops. Hops is—that's your vertical.
- Vertical? - Yeah, basically. Hang time? Vertical? Yeah, yo. Bro got hops. Like, yeah, you can get up. That's when you play above the rim. You get hops, you know?
He just told me a little bit about his game. Ooh. You weren't a leaper. No. No. I just—where I grew up, we didn't have that word. We didn't use that word. Yeah, that's called dis. But I could jump.
All right. No. I could dunk the ball in ninth grade. So you had hops. That's all there is to it.
- Yeah. So you know—I did not have hops. [laughs]