Re: Can you play basketball on the moon?

     An Interesting Question:

     I don't believe anyone has tried to play basketball on The Moon, but
Alan Shepard did hit a golf shot on The Moon in the 70's.  As you know, the 
Moon has no significant amount of oxygen or atmosphere in general, so  
regardless, for a minute we need to disregard the fact that people need 
space suits and breathing/climate apparatus to survive on the moon, 
because they significantly encumber movement and would make a fair 
comparison of basketball on the Moon very difficult.  
     The key thing here is that on the Moon, the pull of gravity is about
1/6th what it is on earth.  That is if you weigh 100 lbs. on Earth, on the 
Moon, you will weigh about 20 pounds.  So, if you were playing basketball
on the Moon, you could run six (6) times further, throw six (6) times as
far and most every physical act, jumping etc. would be about six (6) times
easier.  To compensate for this, the easiest thing to do would be to make 
the court and everything six times larger.
	A typical basketball court is 94x50 feet, so our Moon court would be
564 x 300ft. The rim height would have to be about 60 feet, instead of the
usual 10, and so on.  The three point arc would be about 130 feet out 
instead of the usual 22 ft.  
	Assuming all of this, for the most part, the game would be on
comparable terms, but the 'astroathletes' would have to learn to move
differently, as our bodies are built on Earth's gravity, and not the
Moon's and people tend to 'bounce' more, but some of this may have been
due to the clumsy and restrictive space suits people such as Neil
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin wore when they first went to the moon.  Thank
you for your question, I hope this helps.

-Matt-