Testing What Material is the Best for a Football Boot

My objective is to find out which material is the best to use for a football boot. To do this various test were done to see which material would be best. These tests were durability, friction/grip, strength and waterproof.

Durability

Introduction

Durability is one the main properties for a football boot as with good durability it means the shoe will last longer and won’t wear down easily. A test was done to see which material has the best durability.

Hypothesis

I think that rubber will have the best durability while I think sponge will do the worst in the durability test.

Apparatus

* Materials(sponge, leather, foam, rubber and fabric)

* Sandpaper

Method

The apparatus was set up as instructed. To the test for durability sandpaper would be rubbed against each material. To make it a fair test each material would be rubbed with the sandpaper and they would be rubbed the same amount of times (20times).

Results

Materials

After 5 rubs

After 10 rubs

After15 rubs

After 20 rubs

Rubber

Nothing happened

Discoloured

Discoloured

Discoloured

Fabric

Nothing happened

Nothing happened

Nothing happened

Nothing happened

Leather

Nothing happened

Nothing happened

Discoloured

Discoloured

Sponge

Disintegrated

Foam

Disintegrated

Conclusion

The results show that sponge and foam have the worst durability; this is because they are soft materials. The best durability was rubber as nothing happened. These results show that my hypothesis was right

Friction/Grip

Introduction

It is important for a football boot to have a good grip as if it hasn’t then the footballer will slide on the floor while if it has good grip that wouldn’t. A test was done to see which material has the best grip.

Hypothesis

I think rubber will have the best grip while I think sponge will have the worst grip.

Apparatus

* Materials (leather, fabric, foam, sponge, rubber)

* Newton Meter

* 100g weights

Method

The apparatus was set up as instructed. The material would be put on the Newton Meter and a 100g weight was added then the Newton Meter was pulled along. After that 100g weights were added each time. To make it a fair test each material would have 5 100g weights used.

Results

Results

Weight (100g)

Grip

Fabric

500g

4N

Sponge

500g

4N

Foam

500g

2N

Leather

500g

3N

Rubber

500g

5N

Conclusion

The results show that foam has the worst grip and like I predicted rubber has the best grip. Rubber has the best grip because it is a material that can stretch far.

Strength

Introduction

It is important for a football boot to have good strength so the boot doesn’t break easily and so the footballer can have more power on his shot. So a test was conducted to see which material has the best strength.

Hypothesis

I think that leather will have the best strength. While I think sponge will have the worst strength.

Apparatus

* Materials (sponge, leather, foam, rubber and fabric)

* 100g weights

* Clamp stand

* Crocodile Clip

Method

The apparatus was set up as instructed. To test the strength of the materials each material would be attached to the clamp stand and 100g weights were added one at a time to see what happened to the material. To make it a fair test each material would be put on the clamp stand and would use 100g weights each time. Also each material will have the same amount of weights put on (7 100g weights).

Results

Material

100g

200g

300g

400g

500g

600g

700g

Sponge

snapped

Leather

stretched

Rubber

stretched

Foam

ripped

Fabric

stretched

Conclusion

The results show that rubber and fabric have the best strength this is because they are stretchy materials. Sponge has the worst strength. This is because it is a soft and light material.

Waterproof

Introduction

It is important for a football boot to be waterproof. For instance when playing on a wet surface and the football boot is not waterproof the water will sink through into the football boot, this making it uncomfortable for the footballer to play in. As a result of this waterproof is one of the main properties for a football boot.

Hypothesis

I think that sponge will be the least waterproof as the water will go through the air holes and into the boot. While I think leather will be the best to use for a waterproof shoe as I think it will stop the water going through.

Apparatus

* Materials(sponge, leather, foam, rubber and fabric)

* 6 Beakers

* Pipette

* Water

Method

The apparatus was set up as instructed with each of the five materials over the beakers. While by using the pipette drops of water were put onto each of the materials and were left to see what happened. To make it a fair test each material got the same amount of drops (10 drops) and were left for the same amount of time (5 minutes).

Results

Material

Time left for

Drops

What Happened

Sponge

5 minutes

10

Soaks Though

Leather

5 minutes

10

Doesn’t Soak Through

Foam

5 minutes

10

Soaks Through

Rubber

5 minutes

10

Doesn’t Soak Through

Fabric

5 minutes

10

Soaks Through

Conclusion

From looking at the results it is possible to conclude that the worst materials to use for waterproof are sponge, foam and fabric while the best to use would be leather and rubber.