Physics in Team Roping

Team roping is a timed, competitive rodeo event with roots in ranch work. It offers a physics lesson in a furious 15-second display of motion. A steer runs a "barrier distance" of 10 to 15 feet. Two mounted ropers ride after it with the "header" riding to the steer's left. She twirls a rope that integrates centrifugal force, then throws her loop. Gravity drops the rope onto the horns or neck at which point the "heeler" aims his loop at both hind hooves, immobilizing the animal and demonstrating inert energy. The clock stops when the judge determines that both ropes are taut and both horses are facing the steer.

  1. Gravity

    • David E. Jones, a roping trainer and inventor of the first mechanical team roping simulator, advises competitors to stay on the good side of gravity when approaching a bolting steer. "If you consider that gravity takes your loop down and the momentum of your swing moves your loop to the left, then it makes sense that if you want to catch, as easily as possible, your loop should be pointed higher and to the right of what you are trying to rope," he wrote in a 2002 article for "SuperLooper" magazine.

    Momentum

    • The laws of momentum conservation -- which states that forces applied on a body result in an equal and opposite reaction -- impel a swung rope to return to the first point of the swing. As Jones explained, "the team roping swing develops a circular momentum that moves from right to left over the steer. A swing moves easily from right to left but is next to impossible to move from left to right."

    Centrifugal Force

    • In an episode of the PBS series "Scientific American Frontiers," calf roper Whisper Alexander volunteered to have her less-than-effective swing analyzed via computer modeling. An ideal swing produces a spinning loop. The faster and tighter the spin, the better because when the rope is released its centrifugal force keeps it from collapsing in on itself as it flies to the target. Alexander's swing showed a loss of rope velocity, evident by the appearance of the rope dipping in the front. "Actually the rope is dying before you draw it back," sports physiologist Mike Myers told Alexander.

    Inertia

    • The law of inertia states that a body will preserve its velocity and direction so long as no force in its motion's direction acts on it. In team roping, inertia comes into play as the first loop encircles the steer's horn or neck. The trained cowhorse drops into a hard stop, pulling the rope taut and stopping the steer in its tracks. The heeler's loop, which encircles the steer's hind legs, likewise results in a fast stop of motion as horse and rider reverse the forward action of the rope.