Flag on the play . . . This episode has been called for excessive celebration and unnecessary radness!!!

Football: it’s as much a part of Thanksgiving as turkey, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. Physics: it’s as much a part of football as touchdowns, tackles, and tailgating. Jocelyn and Bradley are joined this week by football physics maestro Dr. Timothy Gay, who coaches us on the physics behind “Deflategate” and solves the gyroscope problem of the perfect spiral pass. He also explains how electrons are and are not like footballs, and how his research into their interactions with matter could yield critical insights about the origins of life on earth. Along the way, Tim shares stories from a life of fateful encounters with everyone from Bill Belichik to old Nazi rocket scientists to the drummer of Motley Crüe.

Learn more about Tim’s amazing work at http://physics.unl.edu/~tgay/ and at the links below!

Football Physics: The Science of the Game: https://www.amazon.com/Football-Physics-Science-Timothy-Gay-ebook/dp/B004GHOISI

Huskervision playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE039D7520F3FC856

Throwing a perfect spiral:
https://news.unl.edu/newsrooms/today/article/tipping-point-after-20-years-gay-solves-conundrum-of-football-physics/
https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-does-a-patrick-mahomes-football-pass-look-so-beautiful-these-physicists-believe-they-have-the-answer-11602253787
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/16/science/football-pass-physics.html
https://aapt.scitation.org/doi/full/10.1119/10.0001388?journalCode=ajp

Electrons and chiral molecules:
https://phys.org/news/2014-09-dna-right-handed-helix.html
https://news.unl.edu/newsrooms/today/article/physicists-get-surprising-results-from-electron-molecule-collisions/

Tommy Lee Goes To College:
https://www.aps.org/publications/capitolhillquarterly/200604/reality-show.cfm
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0432677/fullcredits

Related episodes:

Beauty, Symmetry, and Funsize Physics (Shireen Adenwalla): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/28-shireen-adenwalla-beauty-symmetry-and-funsize-physics/id1471423633?i=1000461961912

How to Get Away With Meowder (Greg Gbur): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/34-greg-gbur-how-to-get-away-with-meowder/id1471423633?i=1000466086468