Baseball is the longest running professional sport in the United States. Most people do not realize it but there is a great deal of physics involved in baseball. Most people would much rather watch the game, but some physicists have made a career of just studying the physics of baseball. In this research paper, we will discuss the physics involved in such aspects as the pitching and catching in baseball. .
Force is required to move anything. It is the same principle in baseball. Force is required to move the ball or swing a bat. It is the pitcher's job to throw the ball across the home plate in an attempt to strike the batter out. In order to do this, force is required. The speed and velocity depends on what force is applied to the ball. There are several things happening when a pitch is thrown.
A baseball in air is affected by three different forces; gravity, air drag, and Magnus force. Gravity is defined as the gravitational pull towards earth. In baseball, gravity causes the ball to accelerate vertically downwards at g=9.8m/s-2. .
Air drag is created by certain wind gusts. It obstructs the ball's motion through the air. The air drag force moves slowly through a thick fluid directly proportional to the speed of an object with respect to the fluid. "A sphere of radius r, moving with the speed v through a fluid whose coefficient of viscosity is n , experiences a drag force given by Stokes' law."" (http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~cross/baseball.html) Stokes' law is an equation relating the terminal settling velocity of a smooth, rigid sphere in a thick fluid of known density and viscosity to the diameter of the sphere when subjected to a known force field. It is used in the particle-size breakdown of soils by the pipette, hydrometer, or centrifuge process. The equation is:.
V = (2gr) (d1-d2)/9 µ .
Where:.
V = velocity of fall (cm sec-),.
g = acceleration of gravity (cm sec-),.
r = "equivalent" radius of particle (cm),.