Deflategate

The New England Patriots have been making a lot of news in the world of sports over a potential cheating scandal that took place in the AFC Championship game last year known as Deflategate. The New England Patriots were accused of deflating the footballs below the NFL standards in order to give them an advantage over the Indianapolis Colts. I have my own opinion on this topic, but I have never developed my opinion from much of a scientific standpoint. Now, as I prepare to watch the NFL season opener between the Patriots and the Steelers, I plan on investigating this scandal to see if the atmospheric conditions of the game could have caused the low pressure in the footballs.

Anyone with a basic knowledge of chemistry and the ideal gas laws understands that gas molecules move less rapidly in cooler temperatures. The footballs were adjusted to the lowest permitted PSI before the game started in the warm conditions of the locker room. The game started at 52 degrees and dropped down to the upper 40s later in the game. Afterward, the referees checked the pressure in the Patriots’ footballs and found that 11 of 12 were two PSI below the permitted amount. Given the ideal gas laws I mentioned earlier, it is plausible that the atmospheric conditions of the cold and rainy weather caused the footballs to drop below the permitted PSI, especially since the Patriots started with the footballs at the minimum PSI allowed.

Another important thought to keep in mind is that footballs are known to be permeable. In other words, footballs lose air pressure throughout the course of the game. Therefore, we could safely assume that the footballs would be below the required pressure if the Patriots started at the lowest pressure allowed. We would not even need to include the weather conditions to make that conclusion.

Now there is clear evidence that the footballs could have been deflated below the standards throughout the course of the game. However, could the weather and the permeability of the footballs cause the footballs to drop 2 PSI? According to calculations that a science teacher posted on Reddit, the maximum amount the pressure could have dropped in the footballs throughout the course of the game is 0.7 PSI which is significantly less than the claimed 2.0 PSI. Another source shows that the pressure should have only dropped 0.4 PSI. The calculations are too far from the actual value to assume that the atmospheric conditions caused the footballs to deflate 2.0 PSI throughout the course of the game.

To summarize, the balls could have been deflated below the required PSI throughout the game, but not 2.0 PSI. Something happened from the time the referees measured the pressure in the footballs before the game to the time the pressure was measured after the game, and the weather was not the reason those footballs were under inflated. There is a lot more to this story and a lot of fingers to point, but I am only looking from Deflategate from a scientific perspective. The bottom line is that the weather did not cause the footballs to deflate 2.0 PSI and some form of a cheating was done by the New England Patriots.

Image courtesy of http://www.wmtw.com

Image courtesy of http://www.wmtw.com

http://www.buffalobruises.com

http://www.buffalobruises.com

Sources:

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/deflategate-patriots-football/40975001

http://www.sportsgrid.com/nfl/science-is-all-like-ooh-ooh-we-can-explain-deflate-gate-with-our-magic/

http://www.wcsh6.com/story/weather/2015/01/20/inflate-gate-weather-roll/22065861/

http://www.wmtw.com/image/view/-/30885296/medRes/1/-/maxh/460/maxw/620/-/8wxkxnz/-/-Deflate-Gate-0120-jpg.jpg

http://www.buffalobruises.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/so-heavy.jpg