When a batter hits a ball, the bat will rebound from the force of the collision. A hollow aluminum bat sounds a lot different to a solid bat since the wall of a hollow bat can vibrate in and out like a drum. How do you control where to hit a baseball? The impact of a bat and a ball is still not properly understood. 3) Care for your bat Wooden baseball bats are susceptible to cold and moisture. There is a difference between a bat and a racquet here, in that tennis strings are very light and give back to the ball 95% of their stored elastic energy. 3. Some of the numbers change with actual speed, but the physics doesnt change. In theory, the ball bounces best for an impact at the center of mass of the bat, provided we can ignore bat vibrations. Thick walls are also needed to help prevent the walls dinting or cracking. J,g]g+e/h_!_gCtO=0f)$P%cIi8Zdfc5&3j_8$7g. Mass has no effect on distance, but if you cant generate enough bat speed to overcome mass, you are doing yourself no favors and going backwards. This force is required to change a 5 1/8th-ounce ball from a speed of 90 mph to a speed of 110 mph, this distorts the baseball to half its original diameter and the bat is compressed one fiftieth of its size.. endobj To understand such collisions it is important to first understand the physics of a collision between one ball and another. Since its vibrations that hurt your grip, the sweet spot is clearly the point where an impacting ball doesnt cause the bat to vibrate. The ball bounces while it is still compressed, and recovers to its original sherical shape after it bounces. The ball bounces backward spinning counter-clockwise. Preliminary In order to indicate the origin of the baseball bats problem, the following preliminary are worth mentioning. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. The bat barrel initially bends backwards away from the ball while the handle bends outward and the vibration in the handle causes the players top hand to lose contact with the handle. by Jessy Williamson | Mar 29, 2023 | Equipment. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. The bat is 84 cm long, and has a mass of 849 gram. 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 . The weight of a bat can be calculated by subtracting the minus number from the length, which in this case is 33 minus -3, equaling 30 ounces. More comparisons can be made by adding more information. Second, if players started using aluminum bats, every MLB record would be shattered within a year and the statistics of the game would be changed completely. However. throughout the paper. Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made. The sweet spot (where you want to hit the ball consistently) is located about 2 in from the end of the barrel to about 6-7 in on an adult bat. Balls compress along the same F vs x curve, regardless of the ball speed, although the actual compression curve for a given ball will depend on its stiffness. In this article, well explore the various components that go into making a baseball bat, as well as how they work together to help a hitter put their best foot forward. All of these are needed to hit a baseball at the Major League level. Some hoop mode sounds are recorded in the following QuickTime Movies, using an aluminum bat and several aluminum tubes of various diameters and wall thickness. on: function(evt, cb) { Understanding the sizes of bats is critical to making the best choice for your game and the best bat for you. hitting a baseball is either painful or frustrating. The vibration of the bat takes energy away from the ball. How Many Square Inches Of Orange Does It Take To Cover A Baseball Cap? Baseball physics is based on fluid dynamics. endobj Explains that a baseball bat's "sweet spot" is approximately 17 cm from the end of the . Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr Creative Commons. >> Softer and less dense varieties of maple that are more likely to break have been banned by Major League Baseball. By maintaining the same swing speed with a heavier bat, players can increase bat speed and distance in the same manner. Other research indicates that the 'sweet spot' lies between the nodes of the lowest 2 vibrations of the bat. As a result of the transfer of kinetic energy from the bat to the ball, it has increased mass and kinetic energy. See, the trouble with wood is that it vibrates. How do you find the acceleration of a system? The Physics of Baseball Bat Sweet-Spot. We offer our conclusions in Section 6. A simple introduction to the physics of the collision problem is given here. Baseball bats are an essential part of the game, and it is important that they are made out of a hard material, such as aluminum and composite materials. How do you know if a bat is too heavy for a boy? , 231-232 (2001). Then can't we add to the list of deeper queries some of . The COR for a collision between the bat and the ball is less than 0.59 when energy is lost to vibrations, but can be greater than 0.59 if the bat has a trampoline effect on the ball. It is almost as easy as walking. When you hit a ball just right, you've hit it on one of the three "sweet spots" of the bat. There is enough physics in it to keep a PhD student busy for a few years. It is critical not only for the sake of performance, but also for the sake of safety. As the ball leaves the bat, the potential energy is converted into kinetic energy. The same thing happens when swinging a golf club, but it is not a well-known effect. If you are 91 to 120 pounds, it is recommended that you use a 29-inch bat. One of the definitions of the "sweet spot" is the location of the node at the barrel end of the bat. Taking the rotation rate as 3/8 revolution / 0.04 sec gives 9.4 revolutions / sec or 560 rpm. Its moment of inertia about an axis through its center of mass is 0.184 kg.m^2. Demonstrating the sweet spot of the bat in a talk I gave at Wrigley Field for University of Illinois alumni in 1997. On average, players aged 15 to 17 hit 140 feet, while players aged 16 to 18 hit 150 feet, and players aged 18 to 19 hit 165 feet. endobj Contacting the Ball.- 8. Youre already losing about half the balls energy to deforming it (baseballs squish down to half their diameter as they impact a bat). 5 0 obj Upon impact with the ball, the rotation of the bat is reversed. stream It is not difficult to swing a bat. By coupling the flexible bat to the ball via a parametrized fo. The lines behind the bat, passing through the axis, mark out angles of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 degrees. And we divide that by Pi times 9.00 centimeters written as meters so centi is prefix meaning ten times minus two and we square that diameter. In file A, the ball spins faster than in file B, both before and after the bounce. Since its vibrations that hurt your grip, the sweet spot is clearly the point where an impacting ball doesnt cause the bat to vibrate. Adding to that is the fact that, When a ball player hits the ball with the bat, it produces an enormous amount of force on the bat in a split second the impact could mean up to. All batters knew was that when you made contact about two-thirds of the way down the bat, it felt good in your hands. Hitting the "sweet spot" is something that baseball players strive for. 24 0 obj Are you a fan of composite or wood? Any two connected segments can be analysed as a double pendulum. It is almost as easy as walking. dKoL!8Ka#EV,@V!\j8ZFbp6EE<9cn=N6j0nf;(&;QU6bUD')c@\ As Russell explained before, there are two related ideals that we conflate into one sweet spot. << Thats the sweet spot. Opines that close to where the point of percussion occurs is the "sweet spot." Explains that a net force hit on small mass will go farther than large mass. The illumination of the ordinaryof why the sky is blue or why the stars shineis not the least important role of physics and physicists. Magnetism is also an important aspect of baseball because bats use magnetite, a magnetic substance found in the body, as a means of internal navigation. A ball that strikes the bat does not cause it to vibrate at this point. In this paper, we analyze the effect on the ball-bat model of corking the bat, and investigate the relationship between the sweet spot and different materials. window.mc4wp = window.mc4wp || { If the ball didn't bounce at all then COR would be zero. /N 22 0 R Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Ash bats, on the other hand, are more flexible, making them perfect for contact hitters. /P 17 0 R })(); Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress, The Ultimate Guide to Baseball-Themed Online Slot Games, How To Hem Baseball Pants: A Step-by-Step Guide For Customizing Your Look. On average, the sweet spot occurs between 5 and 7 in (12.7 and 17.8 cm) from the barrel end of the bat. It has been found that the swing speed for any given batter is proportional to 1/(Swing weight)^n where n is typically about 0.27 for most batters. Thats the sport that demands the most from the athletes who compete in it. The hand moves forward faster than this in practice, so the spin rate could easily be around 1500 rpm. In file A, the tangential COR was surprisingly high, about 0.3. The whole mass of the bat is not involved in the collision, unless the collision happens to occur at the centre of mass of the bat. The batter might find that he needs to change the way he swings the bat if the swing weight is altered, or he might have a grooved swing technique and swing every bat the same way. What happens to the dry ice at room pressure and temperature? If you drop the weight, you will be able to use the bat with greater control and power. Some results for an Easton BK7 aluminum bat are shown below in 13 QuickTime movie files, each about 1 Mb. /V 24 0 R To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. Maple bats are the most durable and have a larger sweet spot, making them ideal for power hitters. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. External forces are the only way to redirect the ball according to the first law of motion. Join PopSci+ to read sciences greatest stories. /V 12 0 R Its center of mass is 52.6 cm from the knob end. The technique here can be be used to measure the performance of any bat, at least at low ball speeds. 25 0 obj Not exactly like a drum, more like a bell or a chime, but the effect is similar. >> Baseball players obsession with bats is second nature to them. A lot has been learned over the years but more experiments need to be done to better understand how the ball bounces and how much spin it acquires when it bounces. If the ball is struck at the sweet spot of the bat, then . When a ball player hits the ball with the bat, it produces an enormous amount of force on the bat in a split second - the impact could mean up to 5,000 lbs of force. /Length 996 Regardless of age, the weight of the right handers bat is crucial. Aluminum bats are hollow so the distribution of mass is very different than a wooden bat, which makes it much easier to swing the bat and therefore produces higher speeds and more powerful hits. Generally, heavier bats are used for power hitters, as they are able to generate more force when swinging. It is not easy to find information on the actual rate of spin of a softball in flight, but it is relatively easy to measure, at least at low ball speeds and low spin speeds. On average, the sweet spot occurs between 5 and 7 in (12.7 and 17.8 cm) from the barrel end of the bat. When it comes to the distance traveled by a ball, speed and speed at which it sails off the bat are all important factors. /N 7 0 R The horizontal speed at the contact point depends on the rate at which the ball spins, as well as on the horizontal speed of the centre of mass of the ball. The bounce was filmed at 300 fps and is played back at 30 fps in slow motion. The shoulders reach maximum speed first. The diagram below shows the swing of a wood bat filmed from a spot above the batters head. In theory, this should mean that a homerun hit right on the sweet spot would sound different from an off-target pop fly. Why does hitting a baseball on the sweet spot of a bat result in a better hit than other parts of the bat? At other impact points, the impact is usually felt as a sting or jarring of the hands and forearm, particularly if the impact occurs at a point well removed from the sweet spot. /R [52 74 308 585 ] The relevant collision equations are derived in the Physics of Baseball and Softball book (and elsewhere) and are: 1. A model is developed for the collision between the baseball and bat, taking into account the transverse bending vibrations of the bat. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. One question that can be answered this way is "Where on the bat does the ball bounce best?" For further details, see American Journal of Physics, September 1998 and also American Journal of Physics. << The bat then magnifies that force by a factor of about 100-5,000 lb or so when it collides with the ball, enough to squash the ball in half. endobj At the major league level, maple bats now account for 75% to 80% of all bats. 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Thick walls are also needed to hit a baseball Cap the hand moves faster! When swinging Inches of Orange does it Take to Cover a baseball on the sweet of... Is equivalent to an ounce of weight the performance of any purchases made you find the acceleration of a result! Law of motion Square Inches of Orange does it Take to Cover a baseball the...