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Ball

February 16, 2024

For other uses, see Ball (disambiguation).

A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid)[1] with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for simpler activities, such as catch or juggling. Balls made from hard-wearing materials are used in engineering applications to provide very low friction bearings, known as ball bearings. Black-powder weapons use stone and metal balls as projectiles.

Group of balls

Although many types of balls are today made from rubber, this form was unknown outside the Americas until after the voyages of Columbus. The Spanish were the first Europeans to see the bouncing rubber balls (although solid and not inflated) which were employed most notably in the Mesoamerican ballgame. Balls used in various sports in other parts of the world prior to Columbus were made from other materials such as animal bladders or skins, stuffed with various materials.

As balls are one of the most familiar spherical objects to humans, the word "ball" may refer to or describe spherical or near-spherical objects.

"Ball" is used metaphorically sometimes to denote something spherical or spheroid, e.g., armadillos and human beings curl up into a ball, making a fist into a ball.

Etymology

The first known use of the word ball in English in the sense of a globular body that is played with was in 1205 in Laȝamon's Brut, or Chronicle of Britain in the phrase, "Summe heo driuen balles wide ȝeond Þa feldes." The word came from the Middle English bal (inflected as ball-e, -es, in turn from Old Norse böllr (pronounced [bɔlːr]; compare Old Swedish baller, and Swedish boll) from Proto-Germanic ballu-z (whence probably Middle High German bal, ball-es, Middle Dutch bal), a cognate with Old High German ballo, pallo, Middle High German balle from Proto-Germanic *ballon (weak masculine), and Old High German ballâ, pallâ, Middle High German balle, Proto-Germanic *ballôn (weak feminine). No Old English representative of any of these is known. (The answering forms in Old English would have been beallu, -a, -e—compare bealluc, ballock.) If ball- was native in Germanic, it may have been a cognate with the Latin foll-is in sense of a "thing blown up or inflated." In the later Middle English spelling balle the word coincided graphically with the French balle "ball" and "bale" which has hence been erroneously assumed to be its source. French balle (but not boule) is assumed to be of Germanic origin, itself, however. In Ancient Greek the word πάλλα (palla) for "ball" is attested[2] besides the word σφαίρα (sfaíra), sphere.[3]

History

 
Russian leather balls (Russian: мячи), 12th-13th century.

A ball, as the essential feature in many forms of gameplay requiring physical exertion, must date from the very earliest times. A rolling object appeals not only to a human baby, but to a kitten and a puppy. Some form of game with a ball is found portrayed on Egyptian monuments.[citation needed] In Homer, Nausicaa was playing at ball with her maidens when Odysseus first saw her in the land of the Phaeacians (Od. vi. 100). And Halios and Laodamas performed before Alcinous and Odysseus with ball play, accompanied with dancing (Od. viii. 370).[4] The most ancient balls in Eurasia have been discovered in Karasahr, China and are 3000 years old. They were made of hair-filled leather.[5]

Ancient Greeks

Among the ancient Greeks, games with balls (σφαῖραι) were regarded as a useful subsidiary to the more violent athletic exercises, as a means of keeping the body supple, and rendering it graceful, but were generally left to boys and girls. Of regular rules for the playing of ball games, little trace remains, if there were any such. The names in Greek for various forms, which have come down to us in such works as the Ὀνομαστικόν of Julius Pollux, imply little or nothing of such; thus, ἀπόρραξις (aporraxis) only means the putting of the ball on the ground with the open hand, οὐρανία (ourania), the flinging of the ball in the air to be caught by two or more players; φαινίνδα (phaininda) would seem to be a game of catch played by two or more, where feinting is used as a test of quickness and skill. Pollux (i. x. 104) mentions a game called episkyros (ἐπίσκυρος), which has often been looked on as the origin of football. It seems to have been played by two sides, arranged in lines; how far there was any form of "goal" seems uncertain.[4] It was impossible to produce a ball that was perfectly spherical;[6] children usually made their own balls by inflating pig's bladders and heating them in the ashes of a fire to make them rounder,[6] although Plato (fl. 420s BC – 340s BC) described "balls which have leather coverings in twelve pieces".[7]

Ancient Romans

Among the Romans, ball games were looked upon as an adjunct to the bath, and were graduated to the age and health of the bathers, and usually a place (sphaeristerium) was set apart for them in the baths (thermae). There appear to have been three types or sizes of ball, the pila, or small ball, used in catching games, the paganica, a heavy ball stuffed with feathers, and the follis, a leather ball filled with air, the largest of the three. This was struck from player to player, who wore a kind of gauntlet on the arm. There was a game known as trigon, played by three players standing in the form of a triangle, and played with the follis, and also one known as harpastum, which seems to imply a "scrimmage" among several players for the ball. These games are known to us through the Romans, though the names are Greek.[4]

Modern ball games

 
An early manual for teaching basketball

The various modern games played with a ball or balls and subject to rules are treated under their various names, such as polo, cricket, football, etc.[4]

Physics

In sports, many modern balls are pressurized. Some are pressurized at the factory (e.g. tennis, squash (sport)) and others are pressurized by users (e.g. volleyball, basketball, football). Almost all pressurized balls gradually leak air. If the ball is factory pressurized, there is usually a rule about whether the ball retains sufficient pressure to remain playable.[8][9] Depressurized balls lack bounce and are often termed "dead". In extreme cases a dead ball becomes flaccid. If the ball is pressured on use, there are generally rules about how the ball is pressurized before the match, and when (or whether) the ball can be repressurized or replaced.

Due to the ideal gas law, ball pressure is a function of temperature, generally tracking ambient conditions. Softer balls that are struck hard (especially squash balls) increase in temperature due to inelastic collision.

In outdoor sports, wet balls play differently than dry balls. In indoor sports, balls may become damp due to hand sweat. Any form of humidity or dampness will affect a ball's surface friction, which will alter a player's ability to impart spin on the ball. The action required to apply spin to a ball is governed by the physics of angular momentum. Spinning balls travelling through air (technically a fluid) will experience the Magnus effect, which can produce lateral deflections in addition to the normal up-down curvature induced by a combination of wind resistance and gravity.

Round balls

Prolate spheroid balls

Several sports use a ball in the shape of a prolate spheroid:

See also

References

  1. ^ "Code of Federal Regulations: 1985–1999". U.S. General Services Administration, National Archives and Records Service, Office of the Federal Register. 5 November 1999. from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 5 November 2017 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ πάλλα 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  3. ^ σφαίρα 2017-03-20 at the Wayback Machine, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  4. ^ a b c d Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ball" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  5. ^ Gershon, Livia (October 21, 2020). "These Hair-Filled Leather Pouches Are the Oldest Balls Found in Eurasia". www.smithsonianmag.com. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  6. ^ a b Garland, Robert (2008). Ancient Greece: Everyday Life in the Birthplace of Western Civilization. New York City, New York: Sterling. p. 96. ISBN 978-1-4549-0908-8.
  7. ^ Plato (1909). "Phædo (Dialogues of Plato)". In Charles W. Eliot (ed.). The Apology, Phædo and Crito of Plato – The Golden Sayings of Epictetus – The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. The Harvard Classics. Vol. 2. Translated by Benjamin Jowett (1st ed.). New York: P. F. Collier and Son. p. 107. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
  8. ^ "Preparing the Footballs for NFL Games | NFL Football Operations". operations.nfl.com. 2015-08-10. Retrieved 2023-11-01.
  9. ^ LaCombe, Ronnie. "How much air can fit in a basketball?". Columbia Daily Tribune. Retrieved 2023-11-02.

External links

  •   The dictionary definition of ball at Wiktionary

February 16, 2024
ball, other, uses, disambiguation, ball, round, object, usually, spherical, sometimes, ovoid, with, several, uses, used, ball, games, where, play, game, follows, state, ball, kicked, thrown, players, also, used, simpler, activities, such, catch, juggling, made. For other uses see Ball disambiguation A ball is a round object usually spherical but can sometimes be ovoid 1 with several uses It is used in ball games where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit kicked or thrown by players Balls can also be used for simpler activities such as catch or juggling Balls made from hard wearing materials are used in engineering applications to provide very low friction bearings known as ball bearings Black powder weapons use stone and metal balls as projectiles Group of ballsAlthough many types of balls are today made from rubber this form was unknown outside the Americas until after the voyages of Columbus The Spanish were the first Europeans to see the bouncing rubber balls although solid and not inflated which were employed most notably in the Mesoamerican ballgame Balls used in various sports in other parts of the world prior to Columbus were made from other materials such as animal bladders or skins stuffed with various materials As balls are one of the most familiar spherical objects to humans the word ball may refer to or describe spherical or near spherical objects Ball is used metaphorically sometimes to denote something spherical or spheroid e g armadillos and human beings curl up into a ball making a fist into a ball Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2 1 Ancient Greeks 2 2 Ancient Romans 2 3 Modern ball games 3 Physics 4 Round balls 5 Prolate spheroid balls 6 See also 7 References 8 External linksEtymologyThe first known use of the word ball in English in the sense of a globular body that is played with was in 1205 in Laȝamon s Brut or Chronicle of Britain in the phrase Summe heo driuen balles wide ȝeond THa feldes The word came from the Middle English bal inflected as ball e es in turn from Old Norse bollr pronounced bɔlːr compare Old Swedish baller and Swedish boll from Proto Germanic ballu z whence probably Middle High German bal ball es Middle Dutch bal a cognate with Old High German ballo pallo Middle High German balle from Proto Germanic ballon weak masculine and Old High German balla palla Middle High German balle Proto Germanic ballon weak feminine No Old English representative of any of these is known The answering forms in Old English would have been beallu a e compare bealluc ballock If ball was native in Germanic it may have been a cognate with the Latin foll is in sense of a thing blown up or inflated In the later Middle English spelling balle the word coincided graphically with the French balle ball and bale which has hence been erroneously assumed to be its source French balle but not boule is assumed to be of Germanic origin itself however In Ancient Greek the word palla palla for ball is attested 2 besides the word sfaira sfaira sphere 3 History nbsp Russian leather balls Russian myachi 12th 13th century A ball as the essential feature in many forms of gameplay requiring physical exertion must date from the very earliest times A rolling object appeals not only to a human baby but to a kitten and a puppy Some form of game with a ball is found portrayed on Egyptian monuments citation needed In Homer Nausicaa was playing at ball with her maidens when Odysseus first saw her in the land of the Phaeacians Od vi 100 And Halios and Laodamas performed before Alcinous and Odysseus with ball play accompanied with dancing Od viii 370 4 The most ancient balls in Eurasia have been discovered in Karasahr China and are 3000 years old They were made of hair filled leather 5 Ancient Greeks Among the ancient Greeks games with balls sfaῖrai were regarded as a useful subsidiary to the more violent athletic exercises as a means of keeping the body supple and rendering it graceful but were generally left to boys and girls Of regular rules for the playing of ball games little trace remains if there were any such The names in Greek for various forms which have come down to us in such works as the Ὀnomastikon of Julius Pollux imply little or nothing of such thus ἀporra3is aporraxis only means the putting of the ball on the ground with the open hand oὐrania ourania the flinging of the ball in the air to be caught by two or more players faininda phaininda would seem to be a game of catch played by two or more where feinting is used as a test of quickness and skill Pollux i x 104 mentions a game called episkyros ἐpiskyros which has often been looked on as the origin of football It seems to have been played by two sides arranged in lines how far there was any form of goal seems uncertain 4 It was impossible to produce a ball that was perfectly spherical 6 children usually made their own balls by inflating pig s bladders and heating them in the ashes of a fire to make them rounder 6 although Plato fl 420s BC 340s BC described balls which have leather coverings in twelve pieces 7 Ancient Romans Among the Romans ball games were looked upon as an adjunct to the bath and were graduated to the age and health of the bathers and usually a place sphaeristerium was set apart for them in the baths thermae There appear to have been three types or sizes of ball the pila or small ball used in catching games the paganica a heavy ball stuffed with feathers and the follis a leather ball filled with air the largest of the three This was struck from player to player who wore a kind of gauntlet on the arm There was a game known as trigon played by three players standing in the form of a triangle and played with the follis and also one known as harpastum which seems to imply a scrimmage among several players for the ball These games are known to us through the Romans though the names are Greek 4 Modern ball games nbsp An early manual for teaching basketballThe various modern games played with a ball or balls and subject to rules are treated under their various names such as polo cricket football etc 4 PhysicsIn sports many modern balls are pressurized Some are pressurized at the factory e g tennis squash sport and others are pressurized by users e g volleyball basketball football Almost all pressurized balls gradually leak air If the ball is factory pressurized there is usually a rule about whether the ball retains sufficient pressure to remain playable 8 9 Depressurized balls lack bounce and are often termed dead In extreme cases a dead ball becomes flaccid If the ball is pressured on use there are generally rules about how the ball is pressurized before the match and when or whether the ball can be repressurized or replaced Due to the ideal gas law ball pressure is a function of temperature generally tracking ambient conditions Softer balls that are struck hard especially squash balls increase in temperature due to inelastic collision In outdoor sports wet balls play differently than dry balls In indoor sports balls may become damp due to hand sweat Any form of humidity or dampness will affect a ball s surface friction which will alter a player s ability to impart spin on the ball The action required to apply spin to a ball is governed by the physics of angular momentum Spinning balls travelling through air technically a fluid will experience the Magnus effect which can produce lateral deflections in addition to the normal up down curvature induced by a combination of wind resistance and gravity Round balls nbsp Football from association football soccer nbsp Handball nbsp Bandy ball nbsp Baseball nbsp Basketball nbsp Billiard balls nbsp Bowling ball and pin nbsp Cricket ball nbsp Golf ball nbsp Lacrosse ball nbsp Rinkball nbsp Roller hockey ball nbsp Rubber band ball nbsp Squash ball nbsp Super Ball nbsp Table tennis balls nbsp Tennis ball nbsp Utility ball nbsp Volleyball nbsp Water polo ballProlate spheroid ballsSeveral sports use a ball in the shape of a prolate spheroid nbsp American football nbsp Australian rules football nbsp Canadian football nbsp Rugby union ball See alsoBall mathematics Buckminster Fullerene Bucky balls Football ball Hockey puck can also spin bounce and roll Kickball Marbles Penny floater Prisoner Ball Shuttlecock Super BallReferences Code of Federal Regulations 1985 1999 U S General Services Administration National Archives and Records Service Office of the Federal Register 5 November 1999 Archived from the original on 7 November 2017 Retrieved 5 November 2017 via Google Books palla Archived 2015 09 24 at the Wayback Machine Henry George Liddell Robert Scott A Greek English Lexicon on Perseus sfaira Archived 2017 03 20 at the Wayback Machine Henry George Liddell Robert Scott A Greek English Lexicon on Perseus a b c d Chisholm Hugh ed 1911 Ball Encyclopaedia Britannica 11th ed Cambridge University Press Gershon Livia October 21 2020 These Hair Filled Leather Pouches Are the Oldest Balls Found in Eurasia www smithsonianmag com Smithsonian Institution Retrieved November 2 2020 a b Garland Robert 2008 Ancient Greece Everyday Life in the Birthplace of Western Civilization New York City New York Sterling p 96 ISBN 978 1 4549 0908 8 Plato 1909 Phaedo Dialogues of Plato In Charles W Eliot ed The Apology Phaedo and Crito of Plato The Golden Sayings of Epictetus The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius The Harvard Classics Vol 2 Translated by Benjamin Jowett 1st ed New York P F Collier and Son p 107 Retrieved May 16 2020 Preparing the Footballs for NFL Games NFL Football Operations operations nfl com 2015 08 10 Retrieved 2023 11 01 LaCombe Ronnie How much air can fit in a basketball Columbia Daily Tribune Retrieved 2023 11 02 External links nbsp The dictionary definition of ball at Wiktionary Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ball amp oldid 1198902452, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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