Did the weather play a role in all this Patriots-Colts Deflategate business? Very unlikely.
Here's why.
Every 10 degree drop in temperature (F) results in about .2 PSI loss in a football. Say the balls were inflated/checked at room temp prior to kickoff, which is around 70 degrees. Gametime temp was around 50 degrees. We're talking about .4 drop in pounds per square inch (PSI).
You may recall the footballs dropped from 13.5 PSI or so to 10.5 PSI.
Weather, was not the culprit. Don't take my word, here's Dr. Michael Lisa, Professor of Physics, at The Ohio State University:
"There were apparently balls found at 10.5 PSI gauge pressure rather than the regulation 13 PSI gauge pressure. This corresponds to an 11 percent difference in the absolute pressure in the ball. (Absolute pressure includes both the gauge pressure and atmospheric pressure.) That 11 percent change in pressure is what you’d get with a 11 percent reduction in temperature. Taking care of all the conversions to Kelvin, etc, that would be going from 70 F to 12 F. So, that could happen on a real cold day."
Alas, this day was not cold enough. But ... maybe the balls were examined in a sauna?
For all our Deflategate coverage, bounce over here.
