baseball bat sweet spot physicsbaseball bat sweet spot physics

These are effectively the same as the vibrations that travel through the air and reach your ear, where you hear them as sounds. The shapes of the force vs time curves are interesting since they tell us how the force on the ball varies with the amount of compression. /N 25 0 R During the fraction of a second after the ball hits the bat, the ball compresses as the energy of the motion is absorbed by the ball, causing it to become elastic potential energy. << Maple and ash are the most commonly used materials in major league baseball. /N 6 0 R Its center of mass is 52.6 cm from the knob end. 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. Other research indicates that the 'sweet spot' lies between the nodes of the lowest 2 vibrations of the bat. endobj Are you a fan of composite or wood? The impact point 2 cm from the tip of the Easton bat is a dead spot where the ball doesn't bounce at all, so q = 0. Hitting a ball incorrectly can make a wooden bat break due to the grain of the wood. I simply wanted to know whether a hand launched ball spins at around 100 rpm or whether it could be as high as 1000 rpm. This is why it is important that baseball bats are made out of a hard material that can maximize the energy transfer while also reducing the risk of injury to the player. As such, aluminum baseball bats do not have a fixed point. >> The relevant collision equations are derived in the Physics of Baseball and Softball book (and elsewhere) and are: 1. It is almost as easy as walking. 4) Good quality bat grip Investing in a good quality bat grip will help improve your grip and increase your odds of hitting the ball in the sweet spot which can reduce the chances of breakage. Explains that a baseball bat's "sweet spot" is approximately 17 cm from the end of the . The bounce factor found from these and some additional impacts is shown below. endobj The true CoP should be measured from that point. So. The dead spots in the bat will cause a vibration to be sent down through the handle of the bat into the hands, which ultimately causes vibration or a stinging feeling. There's no stinging, no vibration and no broken bat. /WhitePoint [0.9505 1 1.089] What have you found works for you? These modes are shown in the diagram above. QuickTime movie files A and B show a baseball bouncing on a block of granite. If the ball didn't bounce at all then COR would be zero. The first is where the bat feels best in your hands when you hit. Baseball bats have a sweet spot which is the ideal location on the bat to hit the ball for maximum performance. The bat is 84 cm long, and has a mass of 849 gram. } When he's not busy exploring the mysteries of the universe, George enjoys hiking and spending time with his family. Baseball players obsession with bats is second nature to them. Not exactly like a drum, more like a bell or a chime, but the effect is similar. Dont store your bat in your garage or trunk of your car, bring it inside. Joe Jackson, a shoeless man, would prefer a custom-built bat known as Black Betsy. /N 7 0 R What is the biggest problem with wind turbines? The more general recommendation is that a teams best hitters should be grouped together in the batting order, rather than spread out, as this maximizes the chances of someone being on base when a good hitter comes to bat. Similarly, an impact at the node of the second mode will not excite the second mode but it will excite the fundamental mode. . >> Since it's vibrations that hurt your grip, the sweet spot is clearly the point where an impacting ball doesn't cause the bat to. << 24 0 obj << If the bat approaches a ball incident at speed v. Are heavy bats are more powerful than light bats? The same thing happens when swinging a golf club, but it is not a well-known effect. See, the trouble with wood is that it vibrates. What is velocity of bullet in the barrel? 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. Understanding the sizes of bats is critical to making the best choice for your game and the best bat for you. /R [52 73 308 791 ] When a player has a bad hit and fails to hit the sweet spot, it causes vibrations which can cause the bat to bend or break. 28 0 obj Specifically, what forces and torques are exerted on the handle, and in what directions do they act? A bat is essentially a long stick. The size and weight of the bat is a matter of personal preference, but it is important to remember that a bat must be approved by the league in order to be used in official games. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr Creative Commons. At room temperature, it will go from a solid to a gas directly. Hickory is another species that has fallen out of favor because of its weight, which slows bat speed. Adair provides a few answers in his book The Physics of Baseball but he does not give the directions or the torques. /P 14 0 R Whenever an object is struck, it vibrates in response. Hence, there are two vibration nodes in the barrel. Rather, most coaches and others think in terms of wrist torque, which is probably much too small to provide the necessary large couple near the end of the swing The couple must come mainly from the two arms, not the wrists. The following material has been expanded considerably into a 324 page book Physics of baseball and softball published by Springer in March 2011. /V 12 0 R keywords: COR(Center of percussion), sweet spot, oscillation Edited : 2020/10/11. You can find the sweet spot by gripping the bat handle with one hand in the same place as when youre swinging. >> endobj That should sound like more of a thud, because youre not hearing the vibrations inside the wood. If you are 91 to 120 pounds, it is recommended that you use a 29-inch bat. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". 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 theory, the ball bounces best for an impact at the center of mass of the bat, provided we can ignore bat vibrations. 1 0 obj When a very light bat is swing velocity at maximum, it has little power to transfer to the ball. As a smaller player, you will generally be able to achieve faster bat speeds with a lighter bat. The ball is spinning clockwise before it bounces and hits the granite block with backspin. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. White ash, sugar maple, true hickory, yellow birch, red oak, and Japanese ash are the six wood types that can be used in bats in Major League Baseball. endobj The bat was swung through an axis 143 mm from the knob end. stream By understanding the physics of baseball bats, players can maximize their performance on the field. /N 22 0 R The mode shape of a baseball or softball bat is a simple flexing bending shape that has parts that move and parts that don't. Every bat has a point about seven inches in from the tip of the bat that doesn't move, that doesn't vibrate, called a node. The hand moves forward faster than this in practice, so the spin rate could easily be around 1500 rpm. (The first person to really investigate sweet spots did so on tennis rackets.) For the purposes of this paper, I will attempt to examine the . Babe Ruth was able to get out of his slump once upon a time when he switched to a bat made of four pieces of wood glued together. Similar results are obtained at much higher ball speeds, the forces and x values being correspondingly much larger. At some point you will feel almost no vibration when you tap. You can actually hear where the sweet spot is just by tapping a bat yourself. Wind farms have different impacts on the environment compared to conventional power plants, but similar concerns exist over both the noise produced by the turbine blades and the . /I << These vibrations travel in waves up and down the length of the object. The material of the bat can affect its performance, as lighter bats tend to be more responsive and have higher exit velocities. Lloyd Smith at Washington State University has an excellent site on the physics and engineering of softball, at http://www.mme.wsu.edu/~ssl , including information on how bats and balls are tested and certified for use in the USA. Scientifically speaking, this is the weakest part of a wooden baseball bat. throughout the paper. The tubes were suspended by a length of string so that they could vibrate for a long time without damping. James Sherwood has a similar site http://m-5.eng.uml.edu/umlbrc describing test procedures used to certify baseball bats and balls at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. << >> The 232 g bat was swung at 45 radians/sec on average (by the batter in the film). 3) Care for your bat Wooden baseball bats are susceptible to cold and moisture. We use the idea that if a body collides with something, then its angular momentum is conserved with respect to the point of impact. A first guess would be at the tip of the bat since the tip travels the fastest. Wood bats and aluminum bats have their own set of advantages and disadvantages, and the choice for the player is based on preference. by Jessy Williamson | Mar 29, 2023 | Equipment. Also shown for comparison is a bounce off a heavy block of granite so that the COR of the ball can be determined. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Boxing. window.mc4wp.listeners.push( /V 16 0 R They can change their flight path after being exposed to different magnetic pulses, and scientists have discovered that big brown bats can adapt to these magnetic shocks. The ball seems to spin faster when it is fresh and slower after it has been used, but more experiments are needed to determine whether this is in fact correct. (function() { 2 0 obj A similar question: The bumper on a pool table is at a height so that the pool ball does not skid when it hits it. There is a greater amount of strength required to swing a wood bat, but the ball exits faster when hit. It is not difficult to swing a bat. /R [316 73 572 791 ] Another simple estimate of spin rate is to throw the ball and catch it with the other hand as soon as it is released. 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. A first guess would be at the node of the bat to hit ball... When a very light bat is 84 cm long, and in What directions do act... Baseball players obsession with bats is critical to making the best bat for?... Ball for maximum performance of favor because of its weight, which slows bat speed feels best your. To really investigate sweet spots did so on tennis rackets. average ( by the batter in same... Block of granite CoP should be measured from that point struck, it is recommended that you use a bat! 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