Yep, it’s for real. The law firm representing the N.F.L. (Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison) has reached out to Columbia University’s department of physics to recruit an expert on “gas physics” to help determine, as has been reported, the “environmental impacts on inflated footballs.”

This is one of those rare times when the jocks turn to the nerds, so fellow fans of molecules and momentum — climb out of that gym locker you were stuffed into — this is our moment. Stand tall. And do the wave.

O.K. Onward to the exciting world of gas physics. (Note to self: Save all gas physics jokes for when kids get home from school.) Here’s what you need to know:

The pressure in a football filled with air (just like that in any container filled with a gas) comes from molecules of the air slamming into the inner walls of the football, pushing the ball’s skin outward. It’s kind of like a bunch of wild kids running around in a room — as they slam into the walls, they too push outward.

Now, just as more kids, crammed into a smaller room, running ever faster will result in a greater outward push — a greater pressure — so too will more air molecules crammed into a smaller volume, rushing around faster, yield a greater pressure.