Football is the most popular sport on the planet. Shells after impact are able to fly along intricate trajectories and end up in the goal net after unexpected bounces.
Now several methods are used to make the ball, and the main one for a long time remained the one where the checkers of two types are used: pentagonal and hexagonal. But why did you choose this form, and why is it good?
The design of modern balls
First you need to figure out what the shell used in this sport consists of. In the manufacture of balls, manufacturers try to achieve maximum strength so that the air does not come out from the inside. But in parallel you have to think about stiffness, shape, size and other parameters.
The ball consists of three parts:
- camera - a cover made of elastic material, where air is pumped;
- lining - a multilayer shell, where the camera is placed, is responsible for the strength and jumping ability of the projectile;
- tire - the outer shell of the ball, which sets its shape.
Soccer ball story
This game in the form familiar to modern people began to form in the first half of the 19th century. Even then, people kicked the ball with their feet, trying to hit the opponent’s goal. But there were no uniform rules controlling the gameplay. In each match, the parties themselves agreed on its features.The ball used at that time was made of rubber.
Interesting fact: rubber balls have been made since 1838, before that the organs of large animals were used.
The Football Association of England in 1872 introduced standards for the size and weight of the ball, by then it was already made of rubber. It was decided to make shells with a circumference of about 70 cm and a mass of 400 g.
At the base of the ball was an inflatable chamber where air was pumped. It was inserted inside a tightly stitched cover through a special hole, which was closed with lacing. The cover was sewn from dense oblong strips, which is why it remotely resembled modern volleyballs.
This design principle was used until 1950, when one of the companies released a soccer ball with a tire consisting of interconnected five and hexagons. This made it possible to achieve a more rounded shape, close to the sphere, and made the flight of the ball more natural.
Initially, the outer tire was made of leather, but this material gradually absorbed moisture, due to which the weight of the projectile could change significantly when playing in the rain. Because of this, manufacturing companies switched to polyurethane and polyvinyl chloride. Shells of them are hard and do not absorb liquids.
In 2004, another company presented a new ball, which was the first shell made with thermal bonding. This allowed you to create a tire from parts of any shape, connecting them into a perfect circle. Now this method of creating the ball is widely used throughout the world, because it allows you to make a unique model with certain properties.
However, despite the popularization of thermal bonding, the principle of creating a ball using five and hexagons is also very popular.
Why does a soccer ball have pentagonal and hexagonal checkers?
These figures are used to create a shell that is as similar as possible to a sphere. The ball consists of 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons, which are connected in a certain way, forming an icosahedron.
In geometry, this figure resembles a circle, but each face is flat. When the camera is placed inside and pumped up with air, the faces are bent from the center to the edges, together forming a ball.
Why are soccer balls black and white?
Since the technology began to be used in the era of black and white TVs, it was decided to make hexagons white and pentagons black. So the ball was better visible on the screen.
Short answer
A soccer ball consists of pentagons and hexagons, because these elements stitched in a certain order form an icosahedron. This geometric figure resembles a ball with flat faces. When pumped with air, they inflate, forming a sphere.
