Physics 199BBThe Physics of Baseball.pptVIP

Week 2 Physics 199BBThe Physics of Baseball Fall 2007 Freshman Discovery Course Alan M. Nathan 403 Loomis 333-0965 a-nathan@uiuc.edu Week 2 The Flight of a Baseball The goal: to develop an understanding of the trajectory of a baseball in flight Pitched baseball Batted baseball Thrown baseball First step: we need to go over some basic physics concepts Position, Velocity, and Acceleration Position: x,y,z Units of length (m, ft, …) Trajectory completely known if we know the position of an object at every instant of time x(t),y(t),z(t) Position is a vector with three components Position, Velocity, and Acceleration 2. Velocity vx,vy,vz Units of length/time (m/s, ft/s,mph,…) Velocity is the rate of change of position Velocity is a vector with three components Position, Velocity, and Acceleration 3. Acceleration ax,ay,az Units of length/time2 (m/s2, ft/s2,…) Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity Acceleration is a vector with three components Motion with Constant Acceleration x = x0 + v0t + ?at2 v = v0 + at Special Case 2:Two-dimensional projectile motion with gravity x = x0 + v0xt vx = vx0 (constant) y = y0 + v0yt - ?gt2 vy = v0y - gt Detailed example: pitched baseball Suppose a pitcher throws a baseball with an initial horizontal velocity of 90 mph at a height of 6 ft above home plate. How long does the pitch take to reach home plate? How much does the pitch drop vertically? Useful thing to remember To convert mph to ft/s, multiply by 1.467 To convert ft/s to mph, divide by 1.467 Using Excel to Compute the Trajectory divide up time into slices separate by dt suppose x,y,vx,vy are known at time t at time t+dt x(t+dt)=x(t)+vx(t)*dt y(t+dt)=y(t)+vy(t)*dt vx(t+dt)=vx(t)+ax(t)*dt vy(t+dt)=vy(t)+ay(t)*dt for case at hand values known at t=0: x0,y0,v0x,v0y ax=0 ay=-g Detailed example: batted baseball Suppose the baseball is hit at an initial height of 3 ft off the ground at a speed of 100 mph and an angle of 35o to the hor