Tag: football

The Chemistry of the Euro 2016 Ball

The Chemistry of the Euro 2016 Football

The Chemistry of the Euro 2016 Ball
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This year’s European Championships are now well under way in France, and there’s already been some great football on show. It might surprise you to learn that some chemistry has also been taking centre-stage! The Euro 2016 ball is a triumph of materials science, and in this post we take a look at some of the chemicals that make it up.

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The Chemistry of a Football Shirt

The Chemistry of a Football Shirt

An infographic on the chemistry of football shirts. The shirts are commonly made of polyesters, which are commonly made via a condensation reaction between an alcohol and a carboxylic acid. Polyester only absorbs 0.4% of its weight in water and wicks away sweat so it evaporates rather than being absorbed. Elastane is another polymer often incorporated into shirts, which gives strength and elasticity. The name, number and sponsor logo on the shirts are often made of another polymer, polyurethane.
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With the new season of the Premier League kicking off this weekend, it seemed a good time to take a look at the chemicals that make up your average football shirt. Even if the start of a new football season isn’t the kind of event to fill you with excitement, it’s still intriguing from a chemistry perspective to examine the different chemical materials used and the properties that they lend the finished shirt.

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