The Physics of Baseball

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Baseball is a stick and ball sport played around the world. It probably came from folk game played in England, which developed into rounders and cricket. Imported to America, several versions of baseball were played by the late 1700’s. A statute from Pittsfeld makes it illegal to play base ball, cricket, or batball within 80 yards of the new town meeting house to protect the windows, so at that point it was a distinct game. Baseball has lots of physics. The focal point of the game is the baseball, which is constantly in motion. The pitcher throw the ball over the plate, the batter swing a bat (which is a simple machine called a lever) and when they connect, the batter runs the bases in a diamond formation with a base at each point, changing speed and velocity, while the fielders try to get the ball to tag the runner out. The speed of the ball leaving the pitchers hand has been checked by radar at over 100mph. The runners must travel 90 feet between bases, for a total of 360 feet, so an average speed of a base runner could be calculated by clocking the time it takes to run home. Work is a physics concept that is used in baseball. The ball is moved by the force of the players arms and muscles in the direction that the ball needs to go. Calculating the work would require knowing the distance (90 feet) from the pitcher to the catcher and the Newtons output of the muscles of the pitcher, which has been calculated at 80 Newtons. Energy is also transferred in the game. Players use chemical energy to cock their arm to an elevated position to get gravitational potential energy, and the forward motion of the arm transfers chemical energy to kinetic energy of the ball. The batter uses chemical energy to lift the bat and swing it at the ball. The ball is in motion traveling towards the batter and when the bat and ball meet the greater energy of the bat compresses the
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