8006 solution.pdf

Team # 8006 Page 1 of 20 The “Sweet Spot” on a Baseball Bat Abstract This paper presents how to locate the “sweet spot” on a baseball bat and the impact of the material out of which the baseball bat is constructed on the “sweet spot”. As it refers to the knowledge of physics, we use physical models to solve the problem. We get four conclusions as follow: 1. The location of the “sweet spot” is not at the end of the bat. The establishment of a model for vibration of wave shows that the sweet zone was the region located between the nodes of the first and second modes of vibration, that is to say, between about 4-7 inches from the barrel end of a 30-inch Little League bat. 2. “Corking” a bat doesn’t enhance the “sweet spot” effect. Apply and analyse the formula of and , the moment of inertia, and the( ) batAballAf ve1 ve v ++= r1 r-e eA + = rebound theory in Elasticity shows that corked bats dont hit balls further or faster. 3. The material out of which the bat is constructed is relevant to the performance of bat. This model can predict the different behavior for wood or metal bats. On the one hand, from the experiment of the model for vibration of wave, we can get a conclusion that the sweet zone is wider for the aluminum bat than it is for the wood bat. On the other hand, take aluminum for example, aluminum bats can be swung faster, aluminum bats have the “trampoline effect”, aluminum is much stronger than ash wood, and the handle of an aluminum bat is a thin cylindrical tube with reasonably thick walls. 4. The “sweet spot” should also take into account the location where the coefficient of restitution is max, the center of percussion and so on. For most bats, all of these sweet spots are at different locations on the bat, so one is often forced to define the sweet spot as a region. Keywords: sweet spot physical model vibration collision efficiency moment of inertia For office use only T1 ________________ T2 ________________ T3 ________________ T4 ________________ T