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sara329

Entry posted by sara329

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Recently I saw the movie 42 about the legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson. Even though I am not a baseball fan it was still a really good movie. While I was watching i realized how much baseball really has to do with physics. Then when we watched a video in class about baseball relates with physics I was amazed! Baseball involves velocity, force, and projectile motion and many more aspects of physics.

Also pitching involves momentum. Basically before the pitcher throws the ball his momentum moves from his legs (the larger parts of his body) up through his fingers (the smaller parts of the body) into the ball. This gives the ball velocity and momentum while it travels through the air. Momentum travels through the body constantly trying to make the ball go faster.

Newtons 2nd law f=ma also relates to baseball. The harder the throw the faster the ball. Each pitch is fighting against gravity and friction; the air slows it down. However gravity and friction makes the ball do certain things like a curve ball. The ball spins from finger pressure; the direction the ball is spinning is the way it will curve.

Newtons third law, or every action there is an equal and opposite reaction is also involved. However much force the batter has, that's how much force the ball will have after it hits the bat. So, obviously the batter wants to hit it hard. The batter has less than .5 seconds to swing. The heavier the bat the harder it is to get it to move fast but the heavier the bat the faster the ball will go when hit. When the ball its the bat, oddly, it squishes up to about half its normal size and gains potential energy, then it springs back off the bat with equal the force that it was hit with.

Lastly the sweet spot on the bat relates to nodes of a wave. If the batter swings and the ball hits at the "sweet spot" of the bat (a node) their will be less vibration of the bat. If the batter hits the ball at an anti node their will be too much vibration which is bad.

Anyways it was very interesting for me to learn all about how baseball relates to physics, hope it was interesting for you too!

Jackie Robinson

42.jackie-robinson2.jpg

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