ABOUT THIS BOOK

CHAPTER 1 - SPORTS ENGINEERING AND YOUR FUTURE
    Sports Engineering 101
    Creative Engineering

CHAPTER 2 - THE SPORTS
    Skateboarding
    Bowling
    Golf
    Tennis
    Inline Skating
    Fishing
    Baseball and Football
    Snow Sports
    Bicycling
    Swimming
    Parathletes

CHAPTER 3 - SPORTS SUPPORT CAREERS
    Helmets
    Shoes
    Broadcast Engineering
    Food for Athletes

CHAPTER 4 - SPORTING FACILITIES
    Stadiums, Arenas, Tracks, and Courses

CHAPTER 5 - GETTING STARTED

GLOSSARY

BIBLIOGRAPHY/RECOMMENDED READING

Bowling Today - Book Excerpt

At first glance, bowling seems like an easy exercise for engineers. Engineers make a ball that weighs 14-16 lbs. and build a lane or path that the ball can roll on to knock down 10 pins at the end of the lane. The participants of the sport wear funny shoes and shirts and call themselves bowlers. You’d probably think that most of the engineering is in the pin resetter and ball return devices, right? Well, think again.

The engineering that goes into the sport of bowling is now so technologically advanced that an engineering degree is required to advance the sport. From bowling ball design to lane design to pin design, these engineers are at the top of their game. Don’t be fooled into complacency by the seemingly casual recreation of the sport or the cosmic bowling alleys of late that play loud music, blow fog and flash colored lights through the crowds.

The true art of bowling is to hit a one-inch wide pocket that is 60 feet away. This tiny pocket is just off the center of the front pin and can be very elusive. When the ball hits the target, known also as a strike, the ball ricochets through the pins and knocks every one down. If you have ever watched bowlers in a bowling alley or on TV you’ve probably said to yourself, “I can do that.” Bowling looks easy.

Today, engineers have figured out how to create a ball that can smash into a larger two to four inch pocket to achieve the same results because ball manufacturers have built a hook into the design. The standard pocket width for a ball rolling straight down the lane is only one inch. However, if you can hook the ball at an angle of at least six degrees when the ball enters the pocket, the size of the pocket jumps from one inch to two or three inches. Because of the precise engineering and understanding of the sport, this enlarged pocket has made the number of perfect games increase from 829 in 1964 to 44,363 in 2003. Additionally, according to the ABC, before 1999, no one had ever bowled three perfect games in a row. Between 2000-2003, five people achieved that feat. The designs of bowling balls have become so sophisticated that the balls practically seek the pins and the outer coatings grip the lane like the tire of a dragster.

Bowling is one of those sports where every throw is unique. Every throw is unique because bowling alleys apply mineral oil on the lanes (most commonly made of pine, cherry wood, or a synthetic laminate) to condition them to take a continual pounding. The amount of oil on the lane, the type of oil, the lane material, the temperature, the humidity and the type of all bowling ball makes the outcome of every throw unpredictable. The amount of oil close to the pins is different from the amount of oil closer to the bowler. Likewise, the amount of oil on the outside of the lane is less than on the inside. No two bowling lanes have the same amount of oil, some alleys use different grades of oils, and some lane oiling machines disperse the oil differently on the lane. Could you guess that oil on the lane would make the bowling ball engineer's job so challenging? How would you design a bowling ball to roll down a lane that changed with every throw?

When a bowler releases the ball, that ball traveling down the lane, can reach temperatures of 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit (friction creates heat!) The ball pushes the oil around and create an endless assortment of oil lines or tracks within the lane that, when followed by the next several bowling balls, can almost guarantee strikes for serious bowlers.

Bowling ball engineers also change the shape and density of the core so it can gyrate (spin on its axis) and hook more or less. Some cores are shaped like bells, some have unusual patterns and others may have spheres or ellipses. The composition of the inside of the and variables for ball designers. The outer surface or coating a designer puts on the ball can give it more grip on the lane or allow it to slide through the oil.

--end of excerpt--

The engineers that do this:

• Chemical and Materials engineers – May design balls, pins, synthetic lanes, ball polish, ball bags and oil for lane conditioning.
• Mechanical engineers – May design pin resetters, ball returns, lanes, scoring systems, ball testing systems and bowling alleys.
• Electrical Engineers – May design new computerized scoring systems or cosmic bowling electrical systems.
• Civil Engineers – May design the bowling alley itself.