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!