SMRTR Science & EngineeringFeb 25, 2026Scientific American

The surprising new physics of squeaky basketball shoes

SMRTR summary

Scientists discovered that basketball shoes create their distinctive squeaking sounds not through simple stick-slip motion as previously thought, but through tiny separation waves that ripple down the shoe's ridges thousands of times per second, kicking the air rhythmically to produce the characteristic pitch based on each ridge's shape.

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