physics

Soccket

Soccket is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Soccket rather than just read about it. In short: SOCCKET was a soccer ball that harnesses and stores energy from play for later use as a portable power source in resource-poor areas. It was the flagship product of Uncharted Play, Incorporated (now Uncharted Power).

Key takeaways

Soccket belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Soccket to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Soccket from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

SOCCKET was a soccer ball that harnesses and stores energy from play for later use as a portable power source in resource-poor areas. It was the flagship product of Uncharted Play, Incorporated (now Uncharted Power).

History Jessica Lin, Julia Silverman, Jessica O. Matthews, Hemali Thakkar, who were at the time undergraduates at Harvard University, and Aviva Presser, who was a Harvard graduate student at the time, were the inventors listed on the initial patent. Prototypes of the ball first appeared in the media in early 2010. The mass-produced version of the ball is the brainchild of Uncharted Play, Inc.—a social enterprise founded by two of the original inventors, Jessica O. Matthews and Julia C. Silverman. According to Engineering for Change, the product was discontinued in 2016. Uncharted, the company which made it, led as of 2021 by Jessica O. Matthews, no longer features the product on their website, but notes that the company initially worked on "energy-generating play products" before shifting to other areas.

Media reaction The SOCCKET scored on the "Highbrow" and "Brilliant" quadrant of New York's "Approval Matrix" for the week of February 8, 2010. It has been reported to have broken quickly after the first use by some recipients. By 2016, production of Soccket had ceased, and Uncharted Play shifted its focus toward broader renewable energy infrastructure projects under the name Uncharted Power.

References

Further reading Boyd, Clark (18 February 2010). "sOccket: Soccer Ball by Day, Light by Night". Discovery News. Discovery. "Coming soon: A football that powers cell phone". Economic Times. 6 July 2010. Archived from the original on October 24, 2011. VanHemert, Kyle (12 June 2010). "A Soccer Ball To Light Up Developing Nations". Gizmodo. Trainer, Mark (7 October 2014). "Soccer ball by day, reading light by night". ShareAmerica.

External links Official Uncharted Play website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Soccket

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Soccket claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Soccket before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Soccket ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Soccket

In research: Soccket appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Soccket in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Soccket is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American inventions, Nigerian inventions, Sports equipment, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Soccket outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Soccket in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Soccket means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Soccket out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Soccket in simple terms?

Why does Soccket matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Soccket?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Soccket.