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The Surprising Complexity Behind the Squeak of Basketball Shoes on Hardwood Floors
- This week, a team in Nature described how sole geometry governs sneaker squeaks through waveguide-like slip pulses, according to researchers at Harvard and Nottingham.
- The project started with the simple question after Adel Djellouli heard basketball shoe squeaks at TD Garden, challenging the belief that the noise was a straightforward stick-slip friction phenomenon.
- Using high-speed imaging and audio analysis, researchers combined internal reflection imaging with cameras capable of recording at one million frames per second and a microphone while sliding sneakers on a smooth glass plate.
- Beyond reducing nuisance noise, the study points to engineers and materials designers using tunable frictional metamaterials for squeak-free shoe design and to study earthquake physics.
- Contrary to earlier models, the study shows shoe squeaks involve geometry-guided slip pulses traveling as fast as some geological faults, challenging simplified stick-slip models.
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A Boston Celtics game-inspired friction test finally pinned down why sneakers squeak
After watching the Celtics play at TD Garden, a Harvard researcher decided to study what makes sneakers squeak. The findings can help scientists understand essential questions about friction, which has important practical applications.
·Boston, United States
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Celtics game-inspired friction test finally pinned down the sneaker squeak
Squeaky shoes are part of the symphony of a basketball game, when rubber soles rasp against the hardwood floors as players jab step, cut and pivot and defenders move their feet to stay in front of their assignment.
·Boston, United States
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A materials specialist at Harvard University wondered how shoes produce the characteristic gnashing of a basketball game.
·Montreal, Canada
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Total News Sources48
Leaning Left17Leaning Right3Center27Last UpdatedBias Distribution58% Center
Bias Distribution
- 58% of the sources are Center
58% Center
L 36%
C 58%
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