It’s Summer, and you know what that means!
Manipulating the spin and speed of a flying
sphere to change its velocity and elude a
Homo sapien swinging a third class lever!
Also known as baseball season.
Hello fans of sport and physics alike, Julian
here for DNews.
Baseball is often called America’s Past
Time, and it’s mostly known for being a
relaxed-paced game that goes great with beer
and hot dogs.
You know what else goes with baseball?
Science, that’s what.
Of course any physical activity is going to
have some physics behind it, and one of the
more nuanced aspects of baseball to a non-fan
is the physics of different pitches.
Justin Allegri, broadcaster for the San Jose
Giants, explains there’s a lot more to a
pitch than just rocketing the ball over the
plate.
By changing the grip, pressure, and release
of the ball, the pitcher can alter its flight
path and make the batter’s life miserable.
The most well known pitch is the fastball,
but there are different variations on the
theme.
The most direct one is a 4 seam fastball,
where the fingers are placed across 4 seams.
On release the pitcher imparts backspin on
the ball.
The result is the ball doesn’t drop as much
as it would otherwise, appearing to fight
gravity and travel in more of a straight line.
The pitcher is taking advantage of the Magnus
effect, which is when a spinning sphere affects
the air pressure around it, much like an airplane
wing.
The side of the ball spinning with the direction
of travel is essentially moving against the
air faster, creating more drag, creating more
pressure, and causing the air to push on it.
On the opposite side of the ball, air pressure
is reduced and the ball travels more easily
in that direction.
You see it in other ball sports too like in
Soccer, or yes, Football, I know, rest of
the world, you don’t have to keep reminding
us.
Curve balls take advantage of the Magnus effect
more, but instead of stabilizing the flight
into a straight line the topspin causes is
to drop and cut.
Different grips and releases open up more
possibilities like sinkers, sliders, screwballs,
and changeups, but they’re all essentially
doing the same thing; causing the seams to
push air around and change the pressure on
the ball.
The exception to the rule is the knuckleball.
A Knuckleball is designed to spin only once
on it’s flight, Moving through the air this
way causes a Kármán Vortex Street, which
is a string of vortices trailing alternating
sides of the ball.
The effect is the ball wobbles from side to
side and its flight becomes impossible to
predict.
Clearly the seams play a huge role in affecting
the flight of the ball.
The seams on balls the pros use are smoother
than those used by college players, to give
them less of an advantage and grip.
The lowered seams also give the batter an
advantage; because of the reduced drag a batter
will hit the smoother baseball farther.
You’ll also notice balls that get hit into
the dirt and scuffed are tossed out by the
umpires, because a skilled pitcher can use
the scuff to their advantage.
Baseball pitches, are great examples of people
innovating and getting creative to elevate
their game.
Speaking of insane augmentations, Toyota has
been doing some tinkering of their own with
the TRD line of Toyota Trucks.
Enhanced to rule the off-road!
