Online, you'll see complicated formulas to determine pressure loss due to temperature change. Since gas volume remains the same, you can actually simplify to this formula (if you go the link, you can see nearly the same application of what we're trying to do here):
T1 / T2 = P1 / P2
T1 = Initial temperature, absolute (T1 + 459)
T2 = Final temperature, absolute (T2 + 459)
P1 = Initial pressure, psia (P1 + 14.7)
P2 = Final pressure, psia (P2 + 14.7)
You're going to solve for T2, by assuming P1 = 12.5 (as Brady said that he likes his balls at exactly 12.5), and by assuming P2 = 10.5 (as reported by news outlets using their NFL sources) and T1 = 75F. Personally I find 75F implausible because at home I keep my thermostat at 69~70F (heating) in the winter, but whatever.
T1 / T2 = P1 / P2
(75+459) / (X+459) = (12.5+14.7) / (10.5+14.7);
534 / (X+459) = 27.2 / 25.2;
534 / (27.2 / 25.2) = (X+459);
494.74 = (X+459);
494.74-459 = X;
X = 35.74F
So what happens if you solve for P2, under the assumption of game time temperature of 51F?
(75+459) / (51+459) = (12.5+14.7) / (X+14.7);
534 / 510 = 27.5 / (X+14.7);
1.047 (X+14.7) = 27.5;
(X+14.7) = 27.5 / 1.047;
X = 26.27 - 14.7;
X = 11.57 PSIg
Now, I'm not a scientist, either. But I didstay at a Holiday Inn tackle complex formulas for calculating deflagration venting in buildings, so science and math isn't overly complicated to me.
But there's more to this.
Let's take the atmospheric pressure into account. Prior to the game, it was not raining; the atmospheric pressure was likely higher when these balls were inflated than during game time. As the ambient air pressure lowered from a storm front approach, the air pressure inside of the balls should have increased -- that is to say, the ball wanted to get larger.
Furthermore, Brady explained to us that he liked his balls exactly at 12.5 PSIg, which makes it impossible to believe that one out of the twelve balls remained at regulation. It's difficult to account for the disparity between the 2.0 PSIg pressure anomaly between the balls, except for one scenario: The ball boy could not access one ball, whether it was in play or otherwise being held onto by someone else.
Because the balls were checked prior to game, and because the average loss of pressure was 1.8 to 1.5 PSIg depending on who did the experiment, we know that the one ball that had remained within regulation, was not originally inflated above regulation.
So no matter how Belichick Science works or how the HeadSmart Labs tests were done, they did not approach real simulations of January 18. Since neither Belichick nor HeadSmart Labs showed video of the actual tests (notably the HeadSmart labs never showed their white board filled with the measured results), I suggest that we take their results with several grains of salt.
Like I said before, this one act does not necessarily tilt the outcome of the game, particularly in the Colts - Patriots championship when the difference between the two teams was extremely wide. But if one is apt to cheat, who's to say that they did not employ a variety of cheating schemes? Add them all up and they could tilt the game. That is why there needs to be an extra set of eyes on the Super Bowl, to ensure that the outcome was fair.
You're going to solve for T2, by assuming P1 = 12.5 (as Brady said that he likes his balls at exactly 12.5), and by assuming P2 = 10.5 (as reported by news outlets using their NFL sources) and T1 = 75F. Personally I find 75F implausible because at home I keep my thermostat at 69~70F (heating) in the winter, but whatever.
T1 / T2 = P1 / P2
(75+459) / (X+459) = (12.5+14.7) / (10.5+14.7);
534 / (X+459) = 27.2 / 25.2;
534 / (27.2 / 25.2) = (X+459);
494.74 = (X+459);
494.74-459 = X;
X = 35.74F
So what happens if you solve for P2, under the assumption of game time temperature of 51F?
(75+459) / (51+459) = (12.5+14.7) / (X+14.7);
534 / 510 = 27.5 / (X+14.7);
1.047 (X+14.7) = 27.5;
(X+14.7) = 27.5 / 1.047;
X = 26.27 - 14.7;
X = 11.57 PSIg
Now, I'm not a scientist, either. But I did
But there's more to this.
Let's take the atmospheric pressure into account. Prior to the game, it was not raining; the atmospheric pressure was likely higher when these balls were inflated than during game time. As the ambient air pressure lowered from a storm front approach, the air pressure inside of the balls should have increased -- that is to say, the ball wanted to get larger.
Furthermore, Brady explained to us that he liked his balls exactly at 12.5 PSIg, which makes it impossible to believe that one out of the twelve balls remained at regulation. It's difficult to account for the disparity between the 2.0 PSIg pressure anomaly between the balls, except for one scenario: The ball boy could not access one ball, whether it was in play or otherwise being held onto by someone else.
Because the balls were checked prior to game, and because the average loss of pressure was 1.8 to 1.5 PSIg depending on who did the experiment, we know that the one ball that had remained within regulation, was not originally inflated above regulation.
So no matter how Belichick Science works or how the HeadSmart Labs tests were done, they did not approach real simulations of January 18. Since neither Belichick nor HeadSmart Labs showed video of the actual tests (notably the HeadSmart labs never showed their white board filled with the measured results), I suggest that we take their results with several grains of salt.
Like I said before, this one act does not necessarily tilt the outcome of the game, particularly in the Colts - Patriots championship when the difference between the two teams was extremely wide. But if one is apt to cheat, who's to say that they did not employ a variety of cheating schemes? Add them all up and they could tilt the game. That is why there needs to be an extra set of eyes on the Super Bowl, to ensure that the outcome was fair.
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