Read Driven Snow for Free Online Page B

field, sense what will probably happen next, and do what feels right.”
    “And that, my friend, is physics.”
    “What?”
    “Physics simply explains the natural world. Well, ‘explains’ is probably the wrong word. It embraces the realities of the natural world. Particles and waves, the absolute of probability, the delineation of measurement.”
    “I don’t know what you mean.”
    “When you throw the ball, do you try for a spiral or end over end?”
    “Spiral.”
    “Why?”
    “It goes farther.”
    “Why?”
    Riley shrugged.
    “You know the answer.”
    “Air drag?”
    “Yes, good. What determines the speed of a punt?”
    “How hard he kicks it.”
    “What principle is that?”
    “Force.”
    “Which determines…?”
    “Uh, acceleration.”
    “Yes, good. Let’s plot horizontal and vertical velocity of the football.” Snow began to write in the notebook, and Riley stared with wide eyes. “The parabolic path of a football can be described by these two equations.” Snow wrote:
    y = V y t—0.5gt 2
    y = V y t—0.5gt 2
    x =V x
    x =V x t
    “y is the height at any time. V y is the vertical component of the football’s initial velocity. g is acceleration due to Earth’s gravity, 9.8 m/s 2 . x is the horizontal distance of the ball at any time. V x is the horizontal component of the football’s initial velocity. Does that make sense?”
    Riley nodded and never took his eyes away from the page.
    “To calculate the hang time, peak height, and maximum range of a punt, you must know the initial velocity of the ball off the kicker’s foot and the angle of the kick. The velocity must be broken into horizontal and vertical components.” Snow wrote them out.
    Riley opened his mouth, closed it, and tried again. “Holy shit, I could use this to find out a lot of important stuff.”
    “Yes, like how far a pass will go given a certain amount of force. You know that instinctively, but this could prove it.” Snow smiled. “And proving it could help you pass your course.”
    Riley scooted even closer to Snow’s chair, which made goose bumps travel up his arm. “Show me some more.”
    Snow smiled. Got him. “Okay, so let’s calculate maximum range. I’ll bet that would be good to know.”
    “Man, it sure would.” Riley picked up a pencil and started doodling numbers beside the formulas Snow notated. A half hour later, he was solving the problems himself, his broad forehead lined with concentration. “If we change the angle of the kick to 60 degrees, we get a hang time of 4.84 seconds, a maximum range of 72 yards, and a peak height of 179 feet.” He looked up. “Is that right?”
    Snow nodded. “Now, this is pretty basic, but we can get a lot more sophisticated.” He scratched out a slightly more complex set of calculations, and Riley seemed absorbed.
    “Man, this is so dope.”
    “Glad you like it.”
    “Wish Jenkins could make physics so interesting.”
    “You have to create the excitement for yourself. See the potential.”
    Riley looked up. “You make it exciting.” He smiled slowly. “You make everything exciting.”
    “M-me?” Snow’s brain froze.
    “Yeah. Why do you think I come see you play all the time? It’s like plugging into the solar system and catching the stars in my hand.”
    “S-stars are gas.”
    “The planets, then. I’ve wanted to tell you this for a while. I think you’re—”
    The sound of a key in the lock brought both their heads up.
    Nooooooo.
    Like some cosmic joke, the apartment door opened and beautiful, perky, perfect Courtney Taylor walked in. “Oh, hi. Are you two still studying? Oh my gosh, Snow, you must be magic or something. No one could ever get him to study physics before. I told him, ‘You have to do it, baby. The team can’t do without you. Find a way to learn this shit.’ And what do you know? He found you. Amazing.” She walked over, pushed Riley’s head back, kissed him on the lips, and plopped down in his lap. “Did you learn a lot,