| In basketball, a player launches a shot by pushing on the ball, a force like this which launches the ball is called a contact force. Basketball is very much a contact sport, when blocking a player during a screen hopefully you come in contact with your opponent. That would also be considered as contact force. Another force is gravity on the ball, the earth pull, this is an example of a non contact force. A non contact force is when two objects exerts forces on one another even though they are not touching. The mass of the object is also very important. For example, the force you exert on the ball depends on the mass of the ball. Or, the mass of the opponent is important to you because, if you are trying to block a player that has the mass of 120 kg, it would be considerably harder then blocking player that has the mass of 60 kg. |