July 2006 Mechanical Engineering: Editorial

editorial

inevitable change

By
John G. Falcioni,
Editor-in-Chief

You try redirecting with your forehead a soaring soccer ball screaming toward your face from 50 yards away and you had better make sure the premiums on your insurance policy are paid up, because there's a better than even chance you'll need reconstructive surgery on your nose.

I haven't endangered my welfare like this since high school. But fanatics worldwide—as they do every four years—have been in a state of frenzy since last month, glued to their televisions watching soccer's elite players risk concussions, broken legs, and the inevitable ball in the midsection, while vying for sports' most coveted international championship and soccer's Holy Grail, the World Cup.

Interestingly, the fate of this month's championship match may well be decided by a group of German engineers from Adidas who designed and engineered the tournament soccer ball, named Teamgeist ("team spirit"). What they've done, essentially, is to make the ball rounder, thus making it more reliable and consistent when it is kicked, or headed.

Unlike the design of more recognized soccer balls—first used during the World Cup in the 1970s—which feature 32 pentagonal and hexagonal panels stitched together, this year's World Cup ball has interlocking pre-curved panels in the shapes of six propellers and eight turbines. The panels are thermally bonded.

This design is said to eliminate irregularities, which affect consistency at the moment a player makes impact with it. Part of the core of the ball is made of a modified latex compound and fabric, which enables the force of a kick to be distributed evenly. The exterior is virtually waterproof, making the ball's performance nearly identical in both dry and wet weather.

But goalkeepers who field-tested the ball say it is unfriendly to them, and liken its slickness to a volleyball when wet. Adidas's robotic kicking machine, in the company's Herzogenaurach labs, shows that the ball reacts more consistently and predictably than the older balls did when force is applied. Strikers, and other offensive players, love it. Which brings truth to the axiom that those who can control their destiny—or, in this case, the ball—are happier.

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It isn't only those who tend the soccer nets who must get used to new gear. Changes are everywhere, including equipment used to make the vehicles we drive more efficient.
How cars will be built, fueled, and powered in the not-too-distant future is part of the discussion Executive Editor Harry Hutchinson and Associate Editor Jeffrey Winters team up to tell in this month's focus on transportation—which begins with Hutchinson's comprehensive cover story, "Easy on the Gas."

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A few weeks ago, Associate Editor Jean Thilmany Googled "Alvin"—the name of her recent first-born—to find out who, other than her son and the chipmunk, share the name.

Jean found that Alvin is also the name of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute's submarine, commissioned 42 years ago. And that, as has often been the case with her baby, it was time to change the pressure vessel. Thus emerged her interesting feature article, "Reaching Deeper," in this issue.

Change has become inexorably linked with engineering—as it is with babies. In fact, during product development, "engineering change" refers to the orderly process for evolving the design of a product. Change also can be frenzied, however, whether you're building a new car or reassembling a submersible, and especially, if you're getting hit on the head with a re-engineered ball.