Tag: soccer

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.
Click to enlarge

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.

Read more
The Chemistry of the World Cup Ball Brazuca

The Chemistry of the World Cup Football

The Chemistry of the World Cup Ball Brazuca

A number of chemical materials are used in the manufacture of the Brazuca, the World Cup football. The majority of these materials are polymers; these are very long molecules built up from many smaller component molecules. A simple, everyday example is polyethene, used to make some plastic bags. Different classes of polymers are used to achieve particular properties for the ball.

Read more