How To Measure The Speed Of Light?

 The Speed of Light

Early Ideas about Light Propagation

As we shall soon see, attempts to measure the speed of light played an important part in the development of the theory of special relativity, and, indeed, the speed of light is central to the theory. 
The first recorded discussion of the speed of light (I think) is in Aristotle, where he quotes Empedocles as saying the light from the sun must take some time to reach the earth, but Aristotle himself apparently disagrees, and even Descartes thought that light traveled instantaneously.  Galileo, unfairly as usual, in Two New Sciences (page 42) has Simplicio stating the Aristotelian position,
SIMP.  Everyday experience shows that the propagation of light is instantaneous; for when we see a piece of artillery fired at great distance, the flash reaches our eyes without lapse of time; but the sound reaches the ear only after a noticeable interval. 
Of course, Galileo points out that in fact nothing about the speed of light can be deduced from this observation, except that light moves faster than sound.  He then goes on to suggest a possible way to measure the speed of light.  The idea is to have two people far away from each other, with covered lanterns.  One uncovers his lantern, then the other immediately uncovers his on seeing the light from the first.  This routine is to be practised with the two close together, so they will get used to the reaction times involved, then they are to do it two or three miles apart, or even further using telescopes, to see if the time interval is perceptibly lengthened.  Galileo claims he actually tried the experiment at distances less than a mile, and couldn’t detect a time lag.  From this one can certainly deduce that light travels at least ten times faster than sound. 

Measuring the Speed of Light with Jupiter’s Moons

The first real measurement of the speed of light came about half a century later, in 1676, by a Danish astronomer, Ole Römer, working at the Paris Observatory.  He had made a systematic study of Io, one of the moons of Jupiter, which was eclipsed by Jupiter at regular intervals, as Io went around Jupiter in a circular orbit at a steady rate.  Actually, Römer found, for several months the eclipses lagged more and more behind the expected time, but then they began to pick up again.  In September 1676,he correctly predicted that an eclipse on November 9 would be 10 minutes behind schedule.  This was indeed the case, to the surprise of his skeptical colleagues at the Royal Observatory in Paris.  Two weeks later, he told them what was happening: as the Earth and Jupiter moved in their orbits, the distance between them varied.  The light from Io (actually reflected sunlight, of course) took time to reach the earth, and took the longest time when the earth was furthest away.  When the Earth was furthest from Jupiter, there was an extra distance for light to travel equal to the diameter of the Earth’s orbit compared with the point of closest approach.  The observed eclipses were furthest behind the predicted times when the earth was furthest from Jupiter. 
From his observations, Römer concluded that light took about twenty-two minutes to cross the earth’s orbit.  This was something of an overestimate, and a few years later Newton wrote in the Principia (Book I, section XIV): “For it is now certain from the phenomena of Jupiter’s satellites, confirmed by the observations of different astronomers, that light is propagated in succession (note: I think this means at finite speed) and requires about seven or eight minutes to travel from the sun to the earth.”  This is essentially the correct value. 
Of course, to find the speed of light it was also necessary to know the distance from the earth to the sun.  During the 1670’s, attempts were made to measure the parallax of Mars, that is, how far it shifted against the background of distant stars when viewed simultaneously from two different places on earth at the same time.  This (very slight) shift could be used to find the distance of Mars from earth, and hence the distance to the sun, since all relative distances in the solar system had been established by observation and geometrical analysis.  According to Crowe (Modern Theories of the Universe, Dover, 1994, page 30), they concluded that the distance to the sun was between 40 and 90 million miles.  Measurements presumably converged on the correct value of about 93 million miles soon after that, because it appears Römer (or perhaps Huygens, using Römer’s data a short time later) used the correct value for the distance, since the speed of light was calculated to be 125,000 miles per second, about three-quarters of the correct value of 186,300 miles per second.  This error is fully accounted for by taking the time light needs to cross the earth’s orbit to be twenty-two minutes (as Römer did) instead of the correct value of sixteen minutes. 

Starlight and Rain

The next substantial improvement in measuring the speed of light took place in 1728, in England.  An astronomer James Bradley, sailing on the Thames with some friends, noticed that the little pennant on top of the mast changed position each time the boat put about, even though the wind was steady.  He thought of the boat as the earth in orbit, the wind as starlight coming from some distant star, and reasoned that the apparent direction the starlight was “blowing” in would depend on the way the earth was moving.  Another possible analogy is to imagine the starlight as a steady downpour of rain on a windless day, and to think of yourself as walking around a circular path at a steady pace.  The apparent direction of the incoming rain will not be vertically downwards—more will hit your front than your back.  In fact, if the rain is falling at, say, 15 mph, and you are walking at 3 mph, to you as observer the rain will be coming down at a slant so that it has a vertical speed of 15 mph, and a horizontal speed towards you of 3 mph.  Whether it is slanting down from the north or east or whatever at any given time depends on where you are on the circular path at that moment.  Bradley reasoned that the apparent direction of incoming starlight must vary in just this way, but the angular change would be a lot less dramatic.  The earth’s speed in orbit is about 18 miles per second, he knew from Römer’s work that light went at about 10,000 times that speed.  That meant that the angular variation in apparent incoming direction of starlight was about the magnitude of the small angle in a right-angled triangle with one side 10,000 times longer than the other, about one two-hundredth of a degree.  Notice this would have been just at the limits of Tycho’s measurements, but the advent of the telescope, and general improvements in engineering, meant this small angle was quite accurately measurable by Bradley’s time, and he found the velocity of light to be 185,000 miles per second, with an accuracy of about one percent. 

Fast Flickering Lanterns

The problem is, all these astronomical techniques do not have the appeal of Galileo’s idea of two guys with lanterns.  It would be reassuring to measure the speed of a beam of light between two points on the ground, rather than making somewhat indirect deductions based on apparent slight variations in the positions of stars.  We can see, though, that if the two lanterns are ten miles apart, the time lag is of order one-ten thousandth of a second, and it is difficult to see how to arrange that.  This technical problem was solved in France about 1850 by two rivals, Fizeau and Foucault, using slightly different techniques.  In Fizeau’s apparatus, a beam of light shone between the teeth of a rapidly rotating toothed wheel, so the “lantern” was constantly being covered and uncovered.  Instead of a second lantern far away, Fizeau simply had a mirror, reflecting the beam back, where it passed a second time between the teeth of the wheel.  The idea was, the blip of light that went out through one gap between teeth would only make it back through the same gap if the teeth had not had time to move over significantly during the round trip time to the far away mirror.  It was not difficult to make a wheel with a hundred teeth, and to rotate it hundreds of times a second, so the time for a tooth to move over could be arranged to be a fraction of one ten thousandth of a second.  The method worked.  Foucault’s method was based on the same general idea, but instead of a toothed wheel, he shone the beam on to a rotating mirror.  At one point in the mirror’s rotation, the reflected beam fell on a distant mirror, which reflected it right back to the rotating mirror, which meanwhile had turned through a small angle.  After this second reflection from the rotating mirror, the position of the beam was carefully measured.  This made it possible to figure out how far the mirror had turned during the time it took the light to make the round trip to the distant mirror, and since the rate of rotation of the mirror was known, the speed of light could be figured out.  These techniques gave the speed of light with an accuracy of about 1,000 miles per second. 

Albert Abraham Michelson

Albert Michelson was born in 1852 in Strzelno, Poland.  His father Samuel was a Jewish merchant, not a very safe thing to be at the time.  Purges of Jews were frequent in the neighboring towns and villages.  They decided to leave town.  Albert’s fourth birthday was celebrated in Murphy’s Camp, Calaveras County, about fifty miles south east of Sacramento, a place where five million dollars worth of gold dust was taken from one four acre lot.  Samuel prospered selling supplies to the miners.  When the gold ran out, the Michelsons moved to Virginia City, Nevada, on the Comstock lode, a silver mining town.  Albert went to high school in San Francisco.  In 1869, his father spotted an announcement in the local paper that Congressman Fitch would be appointing a candidate to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, and inviting applications.  Albert applied but did not get the appointment, which went instead to the son of a civil war veteran.  However, Albert knew that President Grant would also be appointing ten candidates himself, so he went east on the just opened continental railroad to try his luck.  Unknown to Michelson, Congressman Fitch wrote directly to Grant on his behalf, saying this would really help get the Nevada Jews into the Republican party.  This argument proved persuasive.  In fact, by the time Michelson met with Grant, all ten scholarships had been awarded, but the President somehow came up with another one.  Of the incoming class of ninety-two, four years later twenty-nine graduated.  Michelson placed first in optics, but twenty-fifth in seamanship.  The Superintendent of the Academy, Rear Admiral Worden, who had commanded the Monitor in its victory over the Merrimac, told Michelson: “If in the future you’d give less attention to those scientific things and more to your naval gunnery, there might come a time when you would know enough to be of some service to your country.”

Sailing the Silent Seas: Galilean Relativity

Shortly after graduation, Michelson was ordered aboard the USS Monongahela, a sailing ship, for a voyage through the Carribean and down to Rio.  According to the biography of Michelson written by his daughter (The Master of Light, by Dorothy Michelson Livingston, Chicago, 1973) he thought a lot as the ship glided across the quiet Caribbean about whether one could decide in a closed room inside the ship whether or not the vessel was moving.  In fact, his daughter quotes a famous passage from Galileo on just this point:
[SALV.] Shut yourself up with some friend in the largest room below decks of some large ship and there procure gnats, flies, and other such small winged creatures.  Also get a great tub full of water and within it put certain fishes; let also a certain bottle be hung up, which drop by drop lets forth its water into another narrow-necked bottle placed underneath.  Then, the ship lying still, observe how those small winged animals fly with like velocity towards all parts of the room; how the fish swim indifferently towards all sides; and how the distilling drops all fall into the bottle placed underneath.  And casting anything toward your friend, you need not throw it with more force one way than another, provided the distances be equal; and leaping with your legs together, you will reach as far one way as another.  Having observed all these particulars, though no man doubts that, so long as the vessel stands still, they ought to take place in this manner, make the ship move with what velocity you please, so long as the motion is uniform and not fluctuating this way and that.  You will not be able to discern the least alteration in all the forenamed effects, nor can you gather by any of them whether the ship moves or stands still.  ...in throwing something to your friend you do not need to throw harder if he is towards the front of the ship from you...  the drops from the upper bottle still fall into the lower bottle even though the ship may have moved many feet while the drop is in the air ...  Of this correspondence of effects the cause is that the ship’s motion is common to all the things contained in it and to the air also; I mean if those things be shut up in the room; but in case those things were above the deck in the open air, and not obliged to follow the course of the ship, differences would be observed, ...  smoke would stay behind...  . 
[SAGR.] Though it did not occur to me to try any of this out when I was at sea, I am sure you are right.  I remember being in my cabin wondering a hundred times whether the ship was moving or not, and sometimes I imagined it to be moving one way when in fact it was moving the other way.  I am therefore satisfied that no experiment that can be done in a closed cabin can determine the speed or direction of motion of a ship in steady motion. 
I have paraphrased this last remark somewhat to clarify it.  This conclusion of Galileo’s, that everything looks the same in a closed room moving at a steady speed as it does in a closed room at rest, is called The Principle of Galilean Relativity.  We shall be coming back to it. 

Michelson Measures the Speed of Light

On returning to Annapolis from the cruise, Michelson was commissioned Ensign, and in 1875 became an instructor in physics and chemistry at the Naval Academy, under Lieutenant Commander William Sampson.  Michelson met Mrs. Sampson’s niece, Margaret Heminway, daughter of a very successful Wall Street tycoon, who had built himself a granite castle in New Rochelle, NY.  Michelson married Margaret in an Episcopal service in New Rochelle in 1877. 
At work, lecture demonstrations had just been introduced at Annapolis.  Sampson suggested that it would be a good demonstration to measure the speed of light by Foucault’s method.  Michelson soon realized, on putting together the apparatus, that he could redesign it for much greater accuracy, but that would need money well beyond that available in the teaching demonstration budget.  He went and talked with his father in law, who agreed to put up $2,000.  Instead of Foucault’s 60 feet to the far mirror, Michelson had about 2,000 feet along the bank of the Severn, a distance he measured to one tenth of an inch.  He invested in very high quality lenses and mirrors to focus and reflect the beam.  His final result was 186,355 miles per second, with possible error of 30 miles per second or so.  This was twenty times more accurate than Foucault, made the New York Times, and Michelson was famous while still in his twenties.  In fact, this was accepted as the most accurate measurement of the speed of light for the next forty years, at which point Michelson measured it again. 

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List of Foods a Sportsman Can Eat

 

List of Foods a Sportsman Can Eat

It is indeed a mandatory requirement for sportspersons to keep a check on what they eat as what they eat ultimately reflects in their performance. A healthy blend of all the required nutrients helps them gain endurance and energy to sustain in their game for long. Though different kinds of sportspersons have different kinds of requirements in accordance with the sports they are involved into, there is a basic criterion of healthy eating that suits them all. As a sportsperson, one must avoid junk and aerated food and try to savor as much healthy and fresh food as possible. The diet of an active sportsperson should revolve around energy derivation and prevention of injuries caused due to nutritional deficiencies. Rich carbohydrates, moderate proteins, vegetables, iron and balanced blend of minerals with other vital elements is necessary for a healthy sports diet. Eating only one type of food can also lead to serious nutritional deficiencies in their body.

Healthy Sports Nutrition Diet

Carbohydrates

• For snacking purpose, you can opt for pasta, macaroni, spaghetti, noodles and ravioli. You can either have them plain or slather some sauce; it is entirely your call.
• If you are a rice eater, you can consume rice but it is preferable to eat it along with a low fat sauce which is not too spicy. To try out something different, you can opt for soy sauce flavoring.
• Indian cooking generally makes extensive usage of potatoes. You can eat boiled, mashed and baked potatoes but avoid grabbing French fries. Limit your intake of butter, gravy and sour cream.
• From the list of starchy vegetables, peas, carrots and sweet potatoes are your best bet.
• Some people are under the misconception that breads do not form part of sports nutrition food. But, there is nothing like that and you can consume breads, rolls, muffins, bagels etc. Prefer going in for nutritious low fat bread products like multi-grain or whole-wheat bread.
• As far as cereal intake is concerned, avoid consuming cereals which have very high sugar content.
• It is not advisable to consume high fat milk products, especially before your sports performance.
• What you should ideally look out for is a diet that leads to the process called 'carbo-overloading' right before the event or the game. This will ensure the build and maintenance of muscle mass in the body. Foods such as oatmeal, bread, potatoes, maize grit, fruit juice, sweet corn, bananas and special foods with extra carbohydrate content in them are ideal if carb-overload is what you are looking for.
• A high carbohydrate intake is especially beneficial for those who are about to participate in a high-intensity exercise or any sport that extends for more than 90 minutes. Marathons, cricket and football are high-intensity activities and require large amounts of carbohydrate storage for the particular day to maintain and replenish the lost glycogen at the end of the day.

Proteins

• Proteins are another essential component that cannot be missed. They are officially known as the 'building blocks of the body' and should essentially be consumed by athletes to build or repair muscle that has been affected or broken down during sport or exercise. Apart from their basic function, proteins, in form of amino acids, aid growth and strength that are vital to the performance of an athlete.
• Sportsmen need nearly twice the amount of protein intake than the average adult. Protein rich foods come in the form of eggs, meats such as turkey, fish and chicken, tofu, cheese, peanut butter and lentils.

Iron, Vitamins & Minerals

• Being a sportsperson does not give the flexibility to have only a rich supply of carbohydrates and proteins. The trick is to have a balanced diet on all occasions to ensure the proper functioning of the body. Therefore, it necessary to get all the greens stocked on the plate before that big game or workout!
• Vegetables and fruits are high in vitamins and minerals. These are the basic roots of a balanced diet and the ACE studies confirm that a high intake of vegetables and fruits could fuel sufficient iron, calcium, carbohydrate and protein into the system.
• The best thing about vegetables and fruits is that large quantities or consumption does not hinder or affect health rather helps to work towards building a better lifestyle.
• All vegetables, especially the green ones such as spinach, lettuce, leeks, broccoli, asparagus, peas, cabbage and beans, are high in minerals, calcium, iron and vitamins. These do not only ensure proper circulation of oxygen all through the body but also ensure the production of new blood cells, keeping the system healthy overall.

Water

• Finally, it is imperative to understand that water is the source of all health and life in any living being. Large quantities of water go a long way in maintaining an athlete's or sportsman's health. Water ensures that the toxins are flushed out of the system and also replenishes oxygen supply around the body, providing the necessary minerals required to balance the diet.
• An athlete should drink plenty of water, twice the normal amount advised for the average human being, and should make sure he or she has a lot of water one hour prior to the sport or exercise. Too much water right before the start of the sport or exercise, can lead to the formation of cramps in the abdomen or in the gastric pit.
• Water also replenishes the potassium lost from the body while sweating heavily. Therefore, a full bottle of water should be consumed an hour before the high-endurance sport/work out.

Eating only one type of food can lead to serious nutritional deficiencies in an athlete's body. So, always make sure that, except for pregame meal, the diet consumed by a sportsperson is enriched and balanced with vitamins, minerals, proteins and fats to ensure best health and better performance on field.

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Physical Activity and Health

 

The Benefits of Physical Activity

Regular physical activity is one of the most important things you can do for your health. It can help:
If you're not sure about becoming active or boosting your level of physical activity because you're afraid of getting hurt, the good news is that moderate-intensity aerobic activity, like brisk walking, is generally safe for most people.
Start slowly. Cardiac events, such as a heart attack, are rare during physical activity. But the risk does go up when you suddenly become much more active than usual. For example, you can put yourself at risk if you don't usually get much physical activity and then all of a sudden do vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, like shoveling snow. That's why it's important to start slowly and gradually increase your level of activity.
If you have a chronic health condition such as arthritis, diabetes, or heart disease, talk with your doctor to find out if your condition limits, in any way, your ability to be active. Then, work with your doctor to come up with a physical activity plan that matches your abilities. If your condition stops you from meeting the minimum Guidelines, try to do as much as you can. What's important is that you avoid being inactive. Even 60 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity is good for you.
The bottom line is - the health benefits of physical activity far outweigh the risks of getting hurt.
If you want to know more about how physical activity improves your health, the section below gives more detail on what research studies have found.

Control Your Weight

Looking to get to or stay at a healthy weight? Both diet and physical activity play a critical role in controlling your weight. You gain weight when the calories you burn, including those burned during physical activity, are less than the calories you eat or drink. For more information see our section on balancing calories. When it comes to weight management, people vary greatly in how much physical activity they need. You may need to be more active than others to achieve or maintain a healthy weight.
To maintain your weight: Work your way up to 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity, 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, or an equivalent mix of the two each week. Strong scientific evidence shows that physical activity can help you maintain your weight over time. However, the exact amount of physical activity needed to do this is not clear since it varies greatly from person to person. It's possible that you may need to do more than the equivalent of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity a week to maintain your weight.
To lose weight and keep it off: You will need a high amount of physical activity unless you also adjust your diet and reduce the amount of calories you're eating and drinking. Getting to and staying at a healthy weight requires both regular physical activity and a healthy eating plan. The CDC has some great tools and information about nutrition, physical activity and weight loss

Reduce Your Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

Heart disease and stroke are two of the leading causes of death in the United States. But following the Guidelines and getting at least 150 minutes a week (2 hours and 30 minutes) of moderate-intensity aerobic activity can put you at a lower risk for these diseases. You can reduce your risk even further with more physical activity. Regular physical activity can also lower your blood pressure and improve your cholesterol levels.

Reduce your risk of Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome

Regular physical activity can reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is a condition in which you have some combination of too much fat around the waist, high blood pressure, low HDL cholesterol, high triglycerides, or high blood sugar. Research shows that lower rates of these conditions are seen with 120 to 150 minutes (2 hours to 2 hours and 30 minutes) a week of at least moderate-intensity aerobic activity. And the more physical activity you do, the lower your risk will be.
Already have type 2 diabetes? Regular physical activity can help control your blood glucose levels.

Reduce Your Risk of Some Cancers

Being physically active lowers your risk for two types of cancer: colon and breast. Research shows that:

• Physically active people have a lower risk of colon cancer than do people who are not active.
• Physically active women have a lower risk of breast cancer than do people who are not active.

Reduce your risk of endometrial and lung cancer. Although the research is not yet final, some findings suggest that your risk of endometrial cancer and lung cancer may be lower if you get regular physical activity compared to people who are not active. 
Improve your quality of life. If you are a cancer survivor, research shows that getting regular physical activity not only helps give you a better quality of life, but also improves your physical fitness.

Strengthen Your Bones and Muscles

As you age, it's important to protect your bones, joints and muscles. Not only do they support your body and help you move, but keeping bones, joints and muscles healthy can help ensure that you're able to do your daily activities and be physically active.  Research shows that doing aerobic, muscle-strengthening and bone-strengthening physical activity of at least a moderately-intense level can slow the loss of bone density that comes with age.
Hip fracture is a serious health condition that can have life-changing negative effects, especially if you're an older adult. But research shows that people who do 120 to 300 minutes of at least moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week have a lower risk of hip fracture.
Regular physical activity helps with arthritis and other conditions affecting the joints. If you have arthritis, research shows that doing 130 to 150 (2 hours and 10 minutes to 2 hours and 30 minutes) a week of moderate-intensity, low-impact aerobic activity can not only improve your ability to manage pain and do everyday tasks, but it can also make your quality of life better.

Build strong, healthy muscles. Muscle-strengthening activities can help you increase or maintain your muscle mass and strength. Slowly increasing the amount of weight and number of repetitions you do will give you even more benefits, no matter your age.

Improve Your Mental Health and Mood

Regular physical activity can help keep your thinking, learning, and judgment skills sharp as you age. It can also reduce your risk of depression and may help you sleep better. Research has shown that doing aerobic or a mix of aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities 3 to 5 times a week for 30 to 60 minutes can give you these mental health benefits. Some scientific evidence has also shown that even lower levels of physical activity can be beneficial.

Improve Your Ability to do Daily Activities and Prevent Falls

A functional limitation is a loss of the ability to do everyday activities such as climbing stairs, grocery shopping, or playing with your grandchildren.
How does this relate to physical activity? If you're a physically active middle-aged or older adult, you have a lower risk of functional limitations than people who are inactive
Already have trouble doing some of your everyday activities? Aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities can help improve your ability to do these types of tasks.
Are you an older adult who is at risk for falls? Research shows that doing balance and muscle-strengthening activities each week along with moderate-intensity aerobic activity, like brisk walking, can help reduce your risk of falling.

Increase Your Chances of Living Longer

Science shows that physical activity can reduce your risk of dying early from the leading causes of death, like heart disease and some cancers. This is remarkable in two ways:

1. Only a few lifestyle choices have as large an impact on your health as physical activity. People who are physically active for about 7 hours a week have a 40 percent lower risk of dying early than those who are active for less than 30 minutes a week. 
2. You don't have to do high amounts of activity or vigorous-intensity activity to reduce your risk of premature death.  You can put yourself at lower risk of dying early by doing at least 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity.

Everyone can gain the health benefits of physical activity - age, ethnicity, shape or size do not matter.

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Badminton 21 Points

Badminton 21 Points

The Badminton 21 points scoring system started in the Thomas / Uber Cup 2006. I personally think that it has added extra spice and excitement to the game. What do you think?

Anyway, BWF have already decided to adopt this system permanently. So you might as well just follow the trend...

For those of you who want to try this New Badminton 21 Points Scoring System can follow these rules taken from BWF Press Release.

For Singles matches, the rules are:

-A match consists of best of 3 games.
-The side that first scored 21 points shall win.
-The side winning a rally shall add 1 point to its score.
-If a score becomes 20-20, the side which scores 2 consecutive points shall win that game.
-If the score becomes 29-29, the side that scores the 30th point shall win that game.
-The side winning a game serves first in the next game.
-When one side reaches 11 points, both players get a 60 second break.
-Both sides get a 2-minute break between first and second games, and another 2-minute break between second and third game.
-Other rules shall remain the same.

For Doubles matches, the rules are:

-One service only
-Back service line remains and the current rule applies.

The chart below explains the 3x21 rally point scoring system for doubles matches.

In a Doubles match between A&B against C&D. A&B win the toss and decide to serve. A will serve to C. A shall be the initial server while C shall be the initial receiver.

Course of Action/ Explanation	Score	.	.	Service from Service Court	Server & Receiver	Winner of the Rally
.	Love All	C	D	Right service court. Being the score of the serving side is even.	A serves to C. A and C are the initial server and receiver.	A & B
		B	A
A & B win a point. A & B will change service courts. A serves again from Left service court. C & D will stay in the same service courts.	1-0	C	D	Left service court. Being the score of the serving side is odd.	A serves to D	C & D
		A	B
C & D win a point and also right to serve. Nobody will change their respective service courts.	1-1	C	D	Left service court. Being the score of the serving side is odd.	D serves to A	A & B
		A	B
A & B win a point and also right to serve. Nobody will change their respective service courts.	2-1	C	D	Right service court. Being the score of the serving side is even.	B serves to C	C & D
		A	B
C & D win a point and also right to serve. Nobody will change their respective service courts.	2-2	C	D	Right service court. Being the score of the serving side is even.	C serves to B	C & D
		A	B
C & D win a point. C & D will change service courts. C serves from Left service court. A & B will stay in the same service courts.	3-2	D	C	Left service court. Being the score of the serving side is odd.	C serves to A	A & B
		A	B
A & B win a point and also right to serve. Nobody will change their respective service courts.	3-3	D	C	Left service court. Being the score of the serving side is odd.	A serves to C	A & B
		A	B
A & B win a point. A & B will change service courts. A serves again from Right service court. C & D will stay in the same service courts.	4-3	D	C	Right service court. Being the score of the serving side is even.	A serves to D	C & D
		B	A

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Badminton PDF

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Rules of Badminton

Rules of Badminton

Knowing the Rules of Badminton is important if you really want to advance in Badminton and enjoy this game. In the event that a dispute occurs during a match, you'll be able to settle it.
  
For instance, your opponent may gain an unfair advantage on you by breaking the Service Rules. If you are not familiar with the Rules of Badminton, how will you catch him?

So make a point that you understand the Basic Badminton Rules before stepping into the Badminton Court next time...

Toss

The rules of badminton states that a toss shall be conducted before a game starts. If you win, you can choose between serving first or to start play at either end of the court. Your opponent can then exercise the remaining choice.

Scoring system

The rules of badminton states that a badminton match shall consist of the best of 3 games. In doubles and men's singles, the first side to score 15 points wins the game. In women's singles, the first side to score 11 points wins the game.

If the score becomes 14-all (10-all in women's singles), the side which first scored 14 (10) shall exercise the choice to continue the game to 15 (11) points or to 'set' the game to 17 (13) points.

The side winning a game serves first in the next game. Only the serving side can add a point to its score.

Recently BWF have been testing a new scoring format of 21 points per game on all major Badminton competition and decided to replace the old format permanently.

Change of ends

The rules of badminton states that you have to change ends with your opponent after finishing the first game. If a third game was to be played, you shall change ends when the leading score reaches 6 in a game of 11 points or 8 in a game of 15 points.

Rules of Badminton - Singles

Serving and receiving courts

You shall serve from, and receive in, the right service court when you or your opponent has scored an even number of points in that game.

You shall serve from, and receive in, the left service court when you or your opponent has scored an odd number of points in that game.

You and your opponent will hit the shuttle alternately until a 'fault' is made or the shuttle ceases to be in play.

Scoring and serving

You score a point and serve again from the alternate service court when your opponent makes a 'fault' or the shuttle ceases to be in play because it touches the surface of your opponent's side of court.

No points will be scored when you make a 'fault' or the shuttles ceases to be in play because it touches the surface of your side of court. The serving right will then be transferred to your opponent.

Rules of Badminton - Doubles

At the start of the game, and each time a side gains the right to serve, the service shall be delivered from the right service court. Only your opponent standing diagonally opposite of you shall return the service.

Should your opponent's partner touched or hit the shuttle, it shall be a 'fault' and your side scores a point.

Order of play and position on court

After the service is returned, either you or your partner may hit the shuttle from any position on your side of the net. Then either player from the opposing side may do the same, and so on, until the shuttle ceases to be in play.

Scoring and serving

If you are serving or receiving first at the start of any game, you shall serve or receive in the right service court when your side or your opponent's side scored an even number of points.

You shall serve from or receive in the left service court when your side or your opponent's side has scored an odd number of points.

The reverse pattern shall apply to your partner.

In any game, the right to serve passes consecutively from the initial server to the initial receiver, then to that initial's receiver's partner, then to the opponent who is due to serve from the right service court, then to that player's partner, and so on.

You shall not serve out of turn, receive out of turn, or receive two consecutive services in the same game, except as provided in service court errors and 'lets'.

Service court errors

A service court error has been made when a player has served out of turn, has served from the wrong service or standing on the wrong service court while being prepared to receive the service and it has been delivered.

If a service court error is discovered after the next service had been delivered, the error shall not be corrected. If a service court error is discovered before the next service is delivered, the following rules apply.

If both sides committed an error, it shall be a 'let'. If one side committed the error and won the rally, it shall be a 'let'. If one side committed the error and lost the rally, the error shall not be corrected.

If there is a 'let' because of a service court error, the rally is replayed with the error corrected. If a service court error is not to be corrected, play in that game shall proceed without changing the player's new service courts.

Faults

The rules of badminton consider the following as faults:

- If the shuttle lands outside the boundaries of the court, passes through or under the net, fail to pass the net, touches the ceiling or side walls, touches the person or dress of a player or touches any other object or person.

- If the initial point of contact with the shuttle is not on the striker's side of the net. (The striker may, however, follow the shuttle over the net with the racket in the course of a stroke.)

- If a player touches the net or its supports with racket, person or dress, invades an opponent's court over the net with racket or person except as permitted.

- If a player invades an opponent's court under the net with racket or person such that an opponent is obstructed or distracted or obstructs an opponent, that is prevents an opponent from making a legal stroke where the shuttle is followed over the net.

- If a player deliberately distracts an opponent by any action such as shouting or making gestures.

- If the shuttle is caught and held on the racket and then slung during the execution of a stroke.

- If the shuttle is hit twice in succession by the same player with two strokes.

- If the shuttle is hit by a player and the player's partner successively or touches a player's racket and continues towards the back of that player's court.

- If a player is guilty of flagrant, repeated or persistent offences under Law of Continuous Play, Misconduct, Penalties.

- If, on service, the shuttle is caught on the net and remains suspended on top, or, on service, after passing over the net is caught in the net.

Lets

'Let' is called by the umpire, or by a player (if there is no umpire), to halt play.



A 'let' may be given for any unforeseen or accidental occurrence.The rules of badminton consider the following as 'lets':

- If a shuttle is caught in the net and remains suspended on top or, after passing over the net, is caught in the net, it shall be a 'let' except on service.

- If, during service, the receiver and server are both faulted at the same time, it shall be a 'let'.

- If the server serves before the receiver is ready, it shall be a 'let'.

- If, during play, the shuttle disintegrates and the base completely separates from the rest of the shuttle, is shall be a 'let'.

- If a line judge is unsighted and the umpire is unable to make a decision, it shall be a 'let'.

- A 'let' may occur following a service court error. When a 'let' occurs, the play since the last service shall not count and the player who served shall serve again, except where in situations where the Law of Service Court Errors is applicable.

Shuttle not in play

A shuttle is not in play when it strikes the net and remains attached there or suspended on top.

A shuttle is not in play when it strikes the net or post and starts to fall towards the surface of the court on the striker's side of the net.

A shuttle is not in play when it hits the surface of the court or a 'fault' or 'let' has occurred.

Continuous play, misconduct, penalties

Play shall be continuous from the first service until the match is concluded, except as allowed in intervals not exceeding 90 seconds between the first and second games, and not exceeding 5 minutes between the second and third games.

Officials and appeals

The referee is in overall charge of the tournament. The umpire, where appointed, is in charge of the match, the court and its immediate surrounds. The umpire shall report to the referee. The service judge shall call service faults made by the server should they occur. A line judge shall indicate whether a shuttle landed 'in' or 'out' on the line or lines assigned. An official's decision is final on all points of fact for which that official is responsible.



An umpire shall:

- Upload and enforce the Rules of Badminton and, especially, call a 'fault' or 'let' should either occur.

- Give a decision on any appeal regarding a point of dispute, if made before the next service is delivered.

- Ensure players and spectators are kept informed of the progress of the match.

- Appoint or remove line judges or a service judge in consultation with the referee.

- Where another court official is not appointed, arrange for that official's duties to be carried out.

- Where an appointed official is unsighted, carry out the official's duties or play a 'let'.

- Record and report to the referee all matters in relation to continuous play, misconduct and penalties.

- Take to the referee all unsatisfied appeals on questions of law only. (Such appeals must be made before the next service is delivered, or, if at the end of the game, before the side that appeals has left the court.)

I am sure now that you have a better understanding of the Rules of Badminton, you will enjoy your game more!

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Proof Of Relativity

  Relativity Still Holds Up: 5 Recent Tests That Prove Einstein Right

 

Time Dilation

The latest test of Einstein's theory of relativity, published in September 2010 in Science, looks specifically at time dilation, a piece of the theory that predicts that two identical clocks resting at different heights or moving at different speeds will tick at different rates. Time dilation is most commonly thought of in terms of the twin paradox: If one twin goes asteroid-hopping on a rocket moving at extremely high speeds, he'll have aged less than his earthbound sibling when he gets home. Now, however, physicist Chin-Wen Chou and his colleagues at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have shown that time dilation can be observed even without a far-flung, fast-moving trip.

How It Was Tested
Using super-sensitive optical clocks, they measured changes in the clocks' tick rates at speeds of less than 25 miles per hour and at differences in altitude of about a foot. The optical clocks, each powered by a single aluminum ion, are nearly 40 times as accurate as the international-standard cesium-powered atomic clocks, giving researchers the ability to look at minute differences in tick rates. Sitting still at the same height, the clocks had the same tick rate. To move one clock, the researchers simply started one of the ions oscillating at a speed of their choosing. "It can be as slow as you sitting on a swing, swinging back and forth, or as fast as a bullet train," Chou says. When he set the ion moving at 10 meters per second (a little under 25 miles per hour), Chou found that that clock ticked at a measurably slower rate than the stationary clock. The same thing happened when the clocks were at slightly different heights. When Chou and his team used hydraulic jacks to lift one clock just over a foot, the lower clock's tick rate was ever-so-slightly lower than that of the higher clock. Because optical clocks allowed them to measure carefully enough, the researchers could see that Einstein's predictions played out even in everyday circumstances like the height of a footstool and the speed of a car on a residential street.

What about when someone's high up and moving quickly—in a plane, say, moving at 500 miles an hour about six miles off the ground. Which sort of time dilation wins out: the slower tick rate from increased speed, or the faster tick rate from lower gravity? As an example, let's take the feat of George Clooney's character in Up in the Air, who flew 10 million miles on commercial aircraft. Aside from racking up an astonishing number of frequent flier miles, that jetsetter would, Chou figures, have aged 59 microseconds less than his colleagues on Earth.

Spin Precession

Spin precession, a corollary tucked within the greater theory of relativity, predicts that when two objects orbit each other, their masses will distort the central axis they're orbiting around so that it slowly changes direction. This gradual shift causes the two objects to wobble within their orbits.

How It Was Tested
To find the wobble, an international research team studied a pair of pulsars—dense neutron stars that emit radio signals so powerful they can be detected from Earth—that circle each other in close orbits. This pair, the only two pulsars known to orbit each other, was first spotted in 2003, providing an opportunity to test a yet unproven prediction of relativity theory. After tracking the radio signals from one of the stars for four years, the scientists announced in 2008 that, sure enough, it was wobbling, just as Einstein had surmised.

Space-Time Curvature

Sending communications to and from the Viking lander on Mars in 1979, scientists showed that signals traveling between Earth and Mars took slightly longer when they passed the Sun, due to the curvature in space-time caused by the massive star.

How It Was Tested As the spacecraft Cassini was heading towards Saturn in 2002, scientists again measured the effect of solar gravity, looking at how the round-trip time of a radio signal changed when it went near the sun. Although the Cassini test showed the same result as that of the Viking, it was 50 times as accurate—within 20 parts per million, thanks to a better communication system that could filter out interference from the solar corona.

Time Dilation in Lasers

Time dilation over tiny distances was tested not once, but twice in 2010.

How It Was Tested
While cesium atoms no longer power the world's most accurate clocks, they have been used to observe time dilation over the smallest difference in altitude yet: one-tenth of a millimeter, or about four-thousands of an inch. In a study published this February, scientists bombarded cesium atoms with photons from a laser. When a photon hits a given atom, it pushes it into two alternate realities, according to the laws of quantum mechanics. In one of these alternate realities, the atom's path is unchanged; in the other, the atom absorbs the photon, propelling it one-tenth of a millimeter higher. By looking at the difference between the oscillation rate of the higher and lower atom, the researchers could observe time dilation over this tiny distance, with an accuracy of one part in 100 million.

Large-Scale Relativity

As big as a solar system is, it's a small sample when you're out to test a theory about the entire universe. The fact that general relativity hadn't been proven on a larger-than-solar-system scale, however, left some scientists to wonder if the theory would still hold over greater distances.

How It Was Tested
Using far-reaching observations from NASA's powerful Chandra X-ray telescope, researchers were able to provide support for relativity on a cosmological scale. They found that Einstein's theory accurately predicted how galaxy clusters—large groups of galaxies held together by gravity—grew over time.

Read more: Theory of Relativity Tests – Einstein's Theory of General Relativity Studies - Popular Mechanics

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History of Basketball

 

History of Basketball

Basketball was invented in December 1891 by the Canadian clergyman, educator, and physician James Naismith. Naismith introduced the game when we was an instructor at the Young Men's Christian Association Training School (now Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts. At the request of his superior, Dr. Luther H. Gulick, he organized a vigorous recreation suitable for indoor winter play. The game involved elements of American football, soccer, and hockey, and the first ball used was a soccer ball. Teams had nine players, and the goals were wooden peach baskets affixed to the walls. By 1897-1898, teams of five became standard. The game rapidly spread nationwide and to Canada and other parts of the world, played by both women and men; it also became a popular informal outdoor game. U.S. servicemen in World War II (1939-1945) popularized the sport in many other countries.

A number of U.S. colleges adopted the game between about 1893 and 1895. In 1934 the first college games were staged in New York City's Madison Square Garden, and college basketball began to attract heightened interest. By the 1950s basketball had become a major college sport, thus paving the way for a growth of interest in professional basketball.

The first pro league, the National Basketball League, was formed in 1898 to protect players from exploitation and to promote a less rough game. This league only lasted five years before disbanding; its demise spawned a number of loosely organized leagues throughout the northeastern United States. One of the first and greatest pro teams was the Original Celtics, organized about 1915 in New York City. They played as many as 150 games a season and dominated basketball until 1936. The Harlem Globetrotters, founded in 1927, a notable exhibition team, specializes in amusing court antics and expert ball handling.

In 1949 two subsequent professional leagues, the National Basketball League (formed in 1937) and the Basketball Association of America (1946) merged to create the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Boston Celtics, led by their center Bill Russell, dominated the NBA from the late 1950s through the 1960s. By the 1960s, pro teams from coast to coast played before crowds of many millions annually. Wilt Chamberlain, a center for the Los Angeles Lakers, was another leading player during the era, and his battles with Russell were eagerly anticipated. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, also a center, came to prominence during the 1970s. Jabbar perfected his famed "sky hook" shot while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers and dominated the opposition.

The NBA suffered a drop in popularity during the late 1970s, but was resuscitated, principally through the growing popularity of its most prominent players. Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics, and Magic Johnson of the Los Angeles Lakers are credited with injecting excitement into the league in the 1980s through their superior skills and decade-long rivalry. During the late 1980s Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls rose to stardom and helped the Bulls dominate the NBA during the early 1990s. A new generation of basketball stars, including Shaquille O'Neal of the Orlando Magic and Larry Johnson of the Charlotte Hornets, have sustained the NBA's growth in popularity.

In 1959 a Basketball Hall of Fame was founded in Springfield, Massachusetts. Its rosters include the names of great players, coaches, referees, and people who have contributed significantly to the development of the game.

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How To Improve YourTennis Skills

How to Improve on Your Tennis Skills Consistency by Practicing Alone

Improving the consistency of your tennis strokes requires mental consistency and many hours of practicing the same stroke mechanics. Sometimes it is better to practice on your own without a hitting partner because it is harder to be consistent when you are trying to keep the ball in play. Practice alone with several training aids to help stay focused while grooving your strokes.

Practice with a Ball Machine

Step 1

Find a tennis club or tennis center in your area that rents out ball machines. Rent the machine and a court for an hour. Ask for instructions on how to use the machine.

Step 2

Set the machine to shoot the balls out with a slow to medium pace and with a comfortable bounce. Adjust it so that there is no spin on the ball and it shoots straight ahead.

Step 3

Place target cones on the court to help you stay focused. Work on hitting one type of tennis stroke over and over. This helps you groove this one stroke.

Step 4

Repeat this practice session weekly. As your consistency improves, set the machine to shoot out more penetrating balls with spin.

Hit Against a Backboard

Step 1

Stand 15 feet from a backboard and hit forehand ground strokes for 15 minutes. Concentrating on one stroke improves your muscle memory. Your body is learning which muscles to use when you hit this shot in the future which is important for consistency. Take a break and then continue the workout with backhands for 15 minutes.

Step 2

Take a break to stretch out your forearms. Move 25 feet away from the backboard and repeat the ground stroke workout.

Step 3

Move to within 5 feet of the backboard to work on your volleys. Start with your forehand volley. Set a reachable goal of 10 consecutive volleys. If you reach your goal, increase the number. After 10 minutes, work on your backhand volley. Repeat the backboard workout weekly.

Serve Practice

Step 1

Buy a ball hopper, large enough to hold 35 to 40 balls, and enough balls to fill it. Rent an hour of court time once per week at your tennis club or center to work on your serve.

Step 2

Take your usual service stance at the baseline. Without hitting the ball, practice tossing it in the same location over and over. A consistent serve starts with a consistent toss.

Step 3

Move on to hitting serves once your toss is consistent. Set up cones in the service box to give yourself a target. Serve the same serve, toward the same cone 15 to 20 times before changing the type of serve or direction.

Practice with a Tennis Trainer

Step 1

Purchase a tennis trainer. Several designs are on the market, but basically these training aids have a weighed base, a rubber cord attached to them and a practice tennis ball at the end of the cord. The trainer improves hand-eye coordination and stamina in addition to stroke consistency.

Step 2

Rent a court and set the trainer halfway between the net and the service line. When you hit the ball over the net, the cord stretches out and returns the ball to you. Hit 50 forehand ground strokes.

Step 3

Take a break and continue the workout with 50 backhand ground strokes. As you get better, increase the number. Repeat this workout weekly.

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History Of Golf

 

Origins

A golf-like game is recorded as taking place on 26 February 1297, in the Netherlands, in a city called Loenen aan de Vecht, where the Dutch played a game with a stick and leather ball. The winner was whoever hit the ball with the least number of strokes into a target several hundred yards away. Some scholars argue that this game of putting a small ball in a hole in the ground using golf clubs was also played in 17th-century Netherlands and that this predates the game in Scotland. There are also other reports of earlier accounts of a golf-like game from continental Europe.

In April 2005, new evidence re-invigorated the debate concerning the origins of golf. Recent evidence unearthed by Prof. Ling Hongling of Lanzhou University suggests that a game similar to modern-day golf was played in China since Southern Tang Dynasty, 500 years before golf was first mentioned in Scotland.
Dōngxuān Records (Chinese: 東軒錄) from the Song Dynasty (960–1279) describes a game called chuíwán (捶丸) and also includes drawings of the game.It was played with 10 clubs including a cuanbang, pubang, and shaobang, which are comparable to a driver, two-wood, and three-wood. Clubs were inlaid with jade and gold, suggesting chuíwán was for the wealthy. Chinese archive includes references to a Southern Tang official who asked his daughter to dig holes as a target. Ling suggested chuíwán was exported to Europe and then Scotland by Mongolian travellers in the late Middle Ages.

Early golf in Scotland

The modern game of golf is generally considered to be a Scottish invention. A spokesman for the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, one of the oldest Scottish golf organisations, said "Stick and ball games have been around for many centuries, but golf as we know it today, played over 18 holes, clearly originated in Scotland.". The word golf, or in Scots gouf, is usually thought to be a Scots alteration of Dutch "colf" or "colve" meaning "stick, "club", "bat", itself related to the Proto-Germanic language *kulth- as found in Old Norse kolfr meaning "bell clapper", and the German Kolben meaning "mace or club". The Dutch term Kolven refers to a related sport.

The first documented mention of golf in Scotland appears in a 1457 Act of the Scottish Parliament, an edict issued by king James II of Scotland prohibiting the playing of the games of gowf and football as these were a distraction from archery practice for military purposes. Bans were again imposed in Acts of 1471 and 1491, with golf being described as "an unprofitable sport". Mary, Queen of Scots, was accused by her political enemies of playing golf, after her second husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, was murdered in 1567. George Buchanan subsequently wrote that she had been playing "sports that were clearly unsuitable to women". Golf was banned again by parliament under king James IV of Scotland, but golf clubs and balls were bought for him in 1502 when he was visiting Perth, and on subsequent occasions when he was in St Andrews and Edinburgh.

The account book of lawyer Sir John Foulis of Ravelston records that he played golf at Musselburgh Links on 2 March 1672, and this has been accepted as proving that The Old Links, Musselburgh, is the oldest playing golf course in the world. There is also a story that Mary, Queen of Scots, played there in  

1567.Instructions, golf club rules and competitions

The earliest known instructions for playing golf have been found in the diary of Thomas Kincaid, a medical student who played on the course at Bruntsfield Links, near Edinburgh University, and at Leith Links. His notes include his views on an early handicap system. In his entry for 20 January 1687 he noted how "After dinner I went out to the Golve", and described his Golf stroke:

    I found that the only way of playing at the Golve is to stand as you do at fenceing with the small sword bending your legs a little and holding the muscles of your legs and back and armes exceeding bent or fixt or stiffe and not at all slackning them in the time you are bringing down the stroak (which you readily doe) ....[7]

The oldest surviving rules of golf were written in 1744 for the Company of Gentlemen Golfers, later renamed The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, which played at Leith Links. Their "Articles and Laws in Playing at Golf, now preserved in the National Library of Scotland, became known as the Leith Rules and the document supports the club's claim to be the oldest golf club, though an almanac published about a century later is the first record of a rival claim that The Royal Burgess Golfing Society had been set up in 1735. The instructions in the Leith Rules formed the basis for all subsequent codes, for example requiring that "Your Tee must be upon the ground" and "You are not to change the Ball which you strike off the Tee".[7]

The 1744 competition for the Gentlemen Golfers’ Competition for the Silver Club, a trophy in the form of a silver golf club provided as sponsorship by Edinburgh Town Council, was won by surgeon John Rattray, who was required to attach to the trophy a silver ball engraved with his name, beginning a long tradition. Rattray joined the Jacobite Rising of 1745 and as a result was imprisoned in Inverness, but was saved from being hanged by the pleading of his fellow golfer Duncan Forbes of Culloden, Lord President of the Court of Session. Rattray was released in 1747, and won the Silver Club three times in total.[7]

The spread of golf

Early excursions

In 1603 James VI of Scotland succeeded to the throne of England. His son Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales and his courtiers played golf at Blackheath, London, from which the Royal Blackheath Golf Club traces its origins.[10] There is evidence that Scottish soldiers, expatriates and immigrants took the game to British colonies and elsewhere during the 18th and early 19th centuries. The Royal Calcutta Golf Club (1829)[11] and the club at Pau (1856)[12] in south western France are notable reminders of these excursions and are the oldest golf clubs outside of the British Isles and the oldest in continental Europe respectively. However, it was not until the late 19th century that Golf became more widely popular outside of its Scottish home.

The late 19th-century boom

In the 1850s Queen Victoria and Prince Albert built Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands.[13] The railways came to St Andrews in 1852.[14] By the 1860s there were fast and regular services from London to Edinburgh. The royal enthusiasm for Scotland, the much improved transport links and the writings of Sir Walter Scott caused a boom for tourism in Scotland and a wider interest in Scottish history and culture outside of the country.[15][16][17] This period also coincided with the development of the Gutty; a golf ball made of Gutta Percha which was cheaper to mass produce, more durable and more consistent in quality and performance than the feather-filled leather balls used previously.[18] Golf began to spread across the rest of the British Isles. In 1864 the golf course at the resort of Westward Ho! became the first new course in England since Blackheath.[19] In 1880 England had 12 courses, rising to 50 in 1887 and over 1000 by 1914.[20] The game in England had progressed sufficiently by 1890 to produce its first Open Champion, John Ball. The game also spread further across the empire. By the 1880s golf clubs had been established in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa. Singapore followed in 1891. Courses were also established in several continental European resorts for the benefit of British visitors.

United States of America

Evidence of early golf in the United States includes an advertisement published in the Royal Gazette of New York City in 1779 for golf clubs and balls,[21] and the notice of the annual general meeting for a golf club in Savannah published in the Georgia Gazette in 1796.[22] However, as in England, it was not until the late 19th century that golf started to become firmly established. Although there are several competing claims to being the oldest club, what is not contested is that in 1894 delegates from the Newport Country Club, Saint Andrew's Golf Club, Yonkers, New York, The Country Club, Chicago Golf Club, and Shinnecock Hills Golf Club met in New York City to form what was to become the United States Golf Association (USGA). By 1910 there were 267 clubs. During the Roaring Twenties the game expanded greatly in popularity and by 1932 there were over 1,100 golf clubs affiliated to the USGA. In 1922 Walter Hagen became the first native born American to win the British Open Championship, signalling the USA's dominance of the game that has yet to be seriously challenged. The expansion of the game was halted by the Great Depression and World War II, but continued in the post war years. By 1980 there were over 5,000 USGA affiliated clubs, and today the total exceeds 10,600.[23]

Japan

After the Meiji restoration of 1868 Japan made a concerted effort to modernise its economy and industry on western lines. Japanese came to Europe and America to establish trade links and study and acquire the latest developments in business, science and technology, and westerners came to Japan to help establish schools, factories, shipyards and banks.

In 1903 a group of British expatriates established the first golf club in Japan, at Kobe.[24] In 1913 the Tokyo Golf club at Komazawa was established for and by native Japanese who had encountered golf in the United States. In 1924 The Japan Golf Association was established by the seven clubs then in existence.[25] During the 1920s and early 30's several new courses were built, however the great depression and increasing anti-Western sentiment limited the growth of the game. By the time of the Japanese attacks against the USA and British Empire in 1941 there were 23 courses.[26] During the subsequent war most of the courses were requisitioned for military use or returned to agricultural production.[24]

In the postwar period, Japan's golf courses came under the control of the occupying forces. It was not until 1952 that courses started to be returned to Japanese control.[24] By 1956 there were 72 courses[26] and in 1957 Torakichi Nakamura and Koichi Ono won the Canada Cup (now World Cup) in Japan, an event that is often cited as igniting the post-war golf boom.[27] Between 1960 and 1964 the number of golf courses in Japan increased from 195 to 424. By the early 1970s there were over 1,000 courses. The 1987 Resort Law that reduced protection on agricultural land and forest preserves created a further boom in course construction[26] and by 2009 there were over 2,400 courses.[28] The popularity of golf in Japan also caused many golf resorts to be created across the Pacific Rim.[29] The environmental effect of these recent golf booms is seen as a cause for concern by many.

Golf course evolution

Golf courses have not always had eighteen holes. The St Andrews Links occupy a narrow strip of land along the sea. As early as the 15th century, golfers at St Andrews established a trench through the undulating terrain, playing to holes whose locations were dictated by topography. The course that emerged featured eleven holes, laid out end to end from the clubhouse to the far end of the property. One played the holes out, turned around, and played the holes in, for a total of 22 holes. In 1764, several of the holes were deemed too short, and were therefore combined. The number was thereby reduced from 11 to nine, so that a complete round of the links comprised 18 holes. Due to the status of St Andrews as the golfing capital, all other courses followed suit and the 18 hole course remains the standard to the present day.

Equipment development

The evolution of golf can be explained by the development of the equipment used to play the game. Some of the most notable advancements in the game of golf have come from the development of the golf ball. The golf ball took on many different forms before the 1930s when the United States Golf Association (USGA) set standards for weight and size.[31] These standards were later followed by a USGA regulation stating that the initial velocity of any golf ball cannot exceed 250 feet per second. Since this time, the golf ball has continued to develop and impact the way the game is played.

Another notable factor in the evolution of golf has been the development of golf clubs. The earliest golf clubs were made of wood that was readily available in the area. Over the years, Hickory developed into the standard wood used for shafts and American Persimmon became the choice of wood for the club head due to its hardness and strength. As the golf ball developed and became more durable with the introduction of the “gutty” around 1850, the club head was also allowed to develop, and a variety of iron headed clubs entered the game. The introduction of steel shafts began in the late 1890s, but their adoption by the governing bodies of golf was slow. In the early 1970s, shaft technology shifted again with the use of graphite for its lightweight and strength characteristics. The first metal “wood” was developed in the early 1980s, and metal eventually completely replaced wood due to its strength and versatility.[32] The latest golf club technology employs the use of graphite shafts and lightweight titanium heads, which allows the club head to be made much larger than previously possible. The strength of these modern materials also allows the face of the club to be much thinner, which increases the spring-like effect of the club face on the ball, theoretically increasing the distance the ball travels. The USGA has recently limited the spring-like effect, also known as the Coefficient of Restitution (COR) to .83 and the maximum club head size to 460cc in an attempt to maintain the challenge of the game.[33]

Etymology

The word golf was first mentioned in writing in 1457 on a Scottish statute on forbidden games as gouf,[34] possibly derived from the Scots word goulf (variously spelled) meaning "to strike or cuff". This word may, in turn, be derived from the Dutch word kolf, meaning "bat," or "club," and the Dutch sport of the same name. But there is an even earlier reference to the game of golf, and it is believed to have happened in 1452 when King James II banned the game because it kept his subjects from their archery practice.[35]

There is a persistent urban legend claiming that the term derives from an acronym "Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden". This is a false etymology, as acronyms being used as words is a fairly modern phenomenon, making the expression a backronym.[36]

Museums

The history of golf is preserved and represented at several golf museums around the world, notably the British Golf Museum in the town of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland, which is the home of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, and the United States Golf Association Museum and Arnold Mongool Center for Golf History, located alongside the United States Golf Association headquarters in Far Hills, New Jersey.

The World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida also presents a history of the sport, as does the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in Oakville, Ontario.

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