The Physics of Baseball
05-01-2014 / By:
A ball that would travel 400 feet in "normal" conditions goes:
6 feet farther if the altitude is 1,000 feet higher
4 feet farther if the air is 10 degrees warmer
4 feet farther if the ball is 10 degrees warmer
4 feet farther if the barometer drops 1 inch of mercury
3 1/2 feet farther if the pitcher is 5 mph faster
30 feet farther if struck with an aluminum bat
To hit a ball the maximum possible distance, the trajectory off the bat should have a 35-degree angle.
A line drive travels 100 yards in 4 seconds. A fly to the outfield travels 98 yards in 4.3 seconds.
An average head wind (10 mph) can turn a 400-foot home run into a 370-foot routine out.
A curveball that seems to break over
14 inches never actually deviates from a straight line more than 3 1/2 inches.
Part of the ball's deviation from a straight line is governed by the equation:
[delta]P=PR-PL=1/2 Þair [vL2 -
vR2 ]
which describes the magnitude of the pressure
differential between the left and right sides of a rotating, thrown baseball.
here is no possible way (excluding softball) to throw a rising fastball that actually rises.
Excluding meteorologically strange conditions, a batted ball cannot travel longer than 545 feet.
The collision of a bat and baseball lasts only approximately 1/1000 of a second.
Good news for batters: The "muzzle velocity" of a pitched baseball slows down about 1 mph every 7 feet after it leaves the pitcher's hand, that's a loss of roughly 8 mph by the time it crosses the plate.
Bad news for batters: If you swing 1/100th of a second too soon a ball will go foul down the left field side (right handed batter). 1/100th of a second too late and it's foul in the right field seats, and the decision to swing has to happen within 4/100th of a second.
Bingham Hawn
Wayne Weather