baseball pitch accelerate?

I don't think it will accelerate once it leaves the hand. It may have some of the pull of gravity if the pitcher is aiming low, but it lacks any other driving force at that point and there's wind resistance slowing it down.

Just a guess.

All the best,
Andrew.

 

I think this is the same question as all projectiles that are not self-powered, bullets, tank rounds, etc. going parallel to the earth VS. something dropped from a height which will accelerate to terminal velocity.

A bullet will have maximum velocity as it exits the barrel, I believe, and I just checked online and the net agrees with me.

 

A pitch will not accelerate once it leaves the pitchers hand. I haven't studied it, but I've heard from the moment the balls leave the hand until it hits the catchers mitt, it decelerates something like 4-5 MPH.


Mark

 

I think a pitch loses approximately 10% of it's speed on the way to the plate. I read that somewhere.

Of course a pitch with more spin, i.e.a curveball, might lose more speed than a straight seam fastball.

I think the guns they use in baseball are the "Always on" type that simply read the highest speed over a given distance. So it reads constantly but gives back the highest speed.

It does make sense that the ball would be at max velocity immediately upon leaving the pitcher's hand.

D

 

Yes, I agree.

I saw a show a few years back that discussed the truth behind ball movement - some believed it wasn't true, rather suggesting your eyes were playing tricks on you. The show confirmed the ball does - in fact - move, curve, etc, but maybe not as much as some think. That's due to the stitching on the ball, and the resistance it creates on the air flow around the ball.

http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/211_fall2002.web.dir/jon_drobnis/curveball.html

 

Simple physics:

Force = mass x acceleration.

Acceleration = Force divided by mass. If there is no added force (i.e. after ball released), there is no added acceleration.

So... YES, the baseball accelerates after being released. It does not, however, go faster, but rather slows down (i.e. - accelerates in the opposite direction from which it was thrown) due to wind resistance.

 

+1 All very true.

And is one of the reasons bowlers in cricket normally bounce the ball so somewhere ahead of the batsman.... A ball ("pitch") that doesn't bounce is legal, but is considered pretty much a "free hit" by the batsman.... "Thankyou very much, 4 runs!".....

However, the cricket ball can, and often does, accelerate (and/or change direction) at the bounce.

Cheers,
Ian

 

The ball will NOT accelerate faster after leacing the pitchers hand.

After leaving the pitchers hand, the force of the throw is no longer acting on the ball.

The only forces acting on the ball would be gravity (causeing it to drop) and the force of wind resistance (causing it to slow down)

 

before we get too far into this, did we ever determine if the plane on a treadmill would take off?

 

In the name of Pseudo-Science, I have updated the thread in question - on Page 117.
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/other-off-topic-forum/84930-airplane-physics-question-117.html

 

Mythbusters...busted.

 

Speheres in fluids are extremely interesting. There is a point when the airspeed will actually increase around the sphere. This takes place when the air around the body transitions from laminar flow (parallel "layers") to turbulent (non parallel) flow. I was lucky enough to spend some time playing with a wind tunnel a few years ago. This transition of flow types is part of the reason that certain balls have certain physical features on them.I found a related article created by Fluid Dynamics class at UC Davis:

UC Davis AWT: Research - Turbulence Spheres

Even more relevant article courtesy of Arizona:

http://boojum.as.arizona.edu/~jill/NS102_2006/Lectures/Lecture12/turbulent.html

More depth on Turbulence:

http://labman.phys.utk.edu/phys221/modules/m9/turbulence.htm

 

The test conditions were seriously flawed. Their result was garbage. Even their quick exit was a giveaway that "good enough" results were suspect, as there was no discussion, summary or epilogue.


via rubber ducky

 

When hitting, coaches used to always warn and complain about how '12/6' (I'm not even sure how you write that) curve would speed up before it crossed the plate. I did not make it anywhere near the Sox but I could always hit that pitch. Hitters swing early, late and just give up all the time even with 2 strikes. I always thought it was BS!