Looking for statistical data on speed of bird versus speed of tennis ball

Discussion in 'Shuttlecock' started by Joseph, Sep 30, 2003.

  1. Joseph

    Joseph Regular Member

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    I wasn't sure where i should have posted this, since it's badminton related i didn't put it in the chit-chat forum.

    So here's what im looking for, I'm looking for a site that shows statistical data of speeds between the two. This is actually an assignment for a class im in. I'm supposed to find data on a topic that interests me and graph the data. So I would like to graph the speed of a bird and speed of a tennis ball. I think there's something in the faq that shows two numbers, the speed of the bird and tennis ball. There's also the length of how much the players ran.
     
  2. bigredlemon

    bigredlemon Regular Member

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    since the bird and ball has similar air resistence, i would estimate the exponential conefficient (drag) to be proportional to the weight. Birds are around 3g and i think tennis balls are 15ish? or maybe 50...?
     
  3. Traum

    Traum Regular Member

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    The smash of the shuttlecock can travel in excess of 200 miles. Yonex' latest sales propaganda seems to suggest that their Armortec series can produces shuttles travelling at 364km/h (about 227 mph) upon a smash.

    By comparison, a tennis serve can reach around 140mph (Shiriblue mentioned in another thread that the fastest serve is around 147mph)

    -Rick
     
  4. Rohly

    Rohly Regular Member

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    I reckon that shuttles will travel faster than tennis balls.
     
  5. wickeddrop

    wickeddrop Regular Member

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    Youre telling me the shuttle will travel faster than Andy Roddick's serve???
     
  6. Rohly

    Rohly Regular Member

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    Yeh i'm pretty sure the top speed of a shuttle is higher than the tennis serve world record!!!
     
  7. Qidong

    Qidong Regular Member

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    Amazing. From statistics, a badminton smash is faster than Andy Roddick's server. But if Andy Roddick serves from the base line of a badminton court to a guy standing on the other base line, I doubt if anyone can block his tennis ball not to mention returning it.
     
  8. silentlight

    silentlight Regular Member

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    That's because a birdie is only travelling at high velocity right after it leaves the racquet, it, then, quickly drops its speed which explains why top players can retrieve smashes relatively easily compared to tennis aces. Also, after converting tennis' 147mph into km/h, it comes out to ~236.52km/h which is still pretty damn fast added to the fact that the tennis ball does not decelerate as fast as a birdie.
     
  9. woop.

    woop. Regular Member

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    Also a tennis serve, even a very hard one, has some element of spin on it which makes producing a return hard. Also in tennis it is harder to resposition your body in order to get the racquet to the ball and return. Whilst on a badminton court the shuttle flies at you fast and over a shorter distance, it is 'easier' to twist your body or your arm to get the head to the shuttle, even if the best you can do is just to pop it back over the net.

    Note I used the word 'easier'. If anyone thinks I am suggesting tennis is a harder sport you couldn't be more wrong. Just thought I'd make that clear incase someone leapt on me :)
     
  10. Neil Nicholls

    Neil Nicholls Regular Member

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    Surely if they have similar air resistance the drag will be proportional to the speed.
    The deceleration will be inversely proportional to the mass.

    i.e. the smaller mass of a shuttlecock means it slows down quicker than the tennis ball (due to f=ma or a=f/m)


    Joseph,
    A while back someone posted a link to a research paper that determined the terminal velocity of a shuttlecock. You might find that useful.
     
  11. silentlight

    silentlight Regular Member

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    Actually, I do think tennis is harder than badminton. I don't play tennis but I've seen how short the rallies are with the professionals, check out tennis doubles. I also find table tennis hard. I think it has something to do with how much more easier it is to hit something out in tennis compared to badminton.
     
  12. aryrius

    aryrius Regular Member

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    well if u do a search...

    u will find these 2 threads which is rather convincing

    http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7814

    http://www.badmintonforum.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=9790&highlight=tennis+wimbledon


    "These figures were gathered to compare the mens’singles finals at Wimbledon, in which Boris Becker (Germany) defeated Kevin Curren (USA) 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, with the mens singles World Badminton Championships held in Calgary in June, in which Han Jian (China) defeated Morten Frost (Denmark) 14-18, 15-10, 15-8. These statistics must be admitted as describing the current top standard of each sport.
    At Wimbledon, the singles final lasted a total of (3) hours and eighteen minutes. In these 198 minutes, the tennis ball was in play 18 minutes. For 180 minutes, the players were walking or sitting, in between rallies. That means three hours of rest for 18 minutes of play. One could say that the intensity of the match was only 18/198 or 9%.
    At Calgary, the final lasted one hour and sixteen minutes. However, in these 76 minutes, the shuttle was in play 37 minutes. For a playing intensity of 47/76 or 48%. This is just the beginning of the story.
    At Wimbledon, Becker and Curren played a total of 299 points (or rallies), and these points contained 1,004 individual shots, including missed first services. Simple arithmetic reveals an average of 3.4 shots per rally, including missed first services. At Calgary, there were only 146 rallies played, but with a total of 1,972 shots. Han and Frost produced an average of 13.5 shots per rally. Here is another way to look at this: there were 5.1 shots per elapsed minute at Wimbledon, and 25.9 at Calgary.
    A simple estimate of distance traveled by the players, based on the figures above and an assumed 22 feet traveled per player per shot, would suggest that the tennis finalists each ran about 2 miles in 3 hours 18 minutes; the Badminton finalists each covered 4 miles in 1 hour 16 minutes. Those millions of Americans who believe Badminton to be an easy game should ponder this."
     
  13. silentlight

    silentlight Regular Member

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    Yes, I have read those threads before and no doubt badminton matches are more intense and long but I meant in terms of hitting/returning the ball/birdie, I believe that tennis is harder. My bad, I wasn't clear on that matter, sorry.
     
  14. Tomsk

    Tomsk Regular Member

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    From videos I've filmed at my badminton club, the average speed of a smash from mid-court to mid-court is about 65mph/105km/h. Obviously professionals will be a bit quicker.
     
  15. Berkowitz

    Berkowitz New Member

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    tennis serve

    Goran Ivanisevic, and Sampras serves faster than Roddick
     

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