'Deflategate' physics experiment shows how temperature affects pressure

In response to misinformation that arose during the “Deflategate” debate over whether personnel or Mother Nature caused the deflated footballs of the New England Patriots in the 2015 AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts, a Boston College physicist (and lifelong Buffalo Bills fan) conducted his own experiment to determine how weather could have played a role.

Michael Naughton is the Ferris Professor of Physics and department chair at Boston College, the author of nearly 200 publications and holder of 20 patents; an American Physical Society Fellow, a past NSF Young Investigator, and a past member of the Executive Committee of the APS Division of Condensed Matter Physics. His research concentrates on experimental condensed matter, materials physics, and nanoscale integrated science. He has cofounded two technology companies, most recently the former solar energy company Solasta, Inc.

Produced by Sean Casey
Office of News & Public Affairs

[bostoncollege]

With questions of #Deflategate still lingering over the NFL, the and #SuperBowlXLIX, chair of the Physics Department (and a lifelong Prof. Michael Naughton conducted his own experiment to determine how temperature affects pressure.

[LindsayWilcox]

I'll ask the obvious question:

Why didn't that happen to the Colts' balls, then?

There are obviously quite a lot of cold football games. Everyone else seems to have figured out how to compensate for the temperature difference.