CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. —
Deflategate could have been caused by the weather conditions at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough Sunday night, a Boston College physics professor said........
“It’s not possible for Weather not to have played a role,” said Professor Michael Naughton, chair of the physics department.
7 Things you need to know about Deflategate Naughton, in a press release issued by the university, said a football that has been inflated immediately begins losing pressure once it is placed in colder temperatures.
While it was not that cold at Foxborough Sunday night, it was likely colder on the field than the room where the balls were inflated. “Say you inflated the ball to 12.5 PSI -- the NFL minimum -- in a room at 70 degrees, and then used the ball outside where it was 50 degrees. That 12.5 PSI would eventually become 11.5 PSI," said Naughton.
"If you inflate the ball to 12.5 PSI in an even warmer room where it was, say, 80 degrees, and then played outdoors at 40 degrees, that 12.5 PSI would become 10.5 PSI -- a drop of two PSIs."
The NFL has found that 11 of the 12 balls used by Tom Brady and the Patriots were underinflated, ESPN reported.
