1 Celeste Pacheco and Ela Villanueva Professor Kissekeva-Eggleton PHYS 008A 11/29/2022 Final Project Essay Physics is a branch of science concerned with the structure of matter and how the fundamental constituents of the universe interact. This is the most fundamental of all sciences. The goal of physics is to understand how the universe behaves. By this, we can relate many topics to the science of physics. This project will go over the relationship between softball and physics and how softball relates to topics that have been learned during the course of General Physics A. This is a very intriguing topic for our group as softball plays a huge role in our lives specifically. By being on the softball team here at Holy Names and growing up playing this sport we have realized that this sport relates to many topics in the course such as energy, force, motion, momentum, etc. Physics can relate to everything in life and softball is a great representation of that. Physics not only helps explain the sport of softball but can also maximize a player’s game. For instance, many coaches and mentors include physics in their teaching when explaining how to pitch, hit, throw, or run. For instance, a pitching coach may say that the momentum towards the plate in the wind up is very important as it ensures peak velocity. Also, when explaining the spin of the ball a coach may tell a player to look at the trajectory of the ball to ensure the right spin. Lastly, a coach may mention acceleration while pitching as the acceleration at the bottom of the windmill motion is most important. As one of us being a pitcher, my coach always tells me to 2 have that whip at the bottom to ensure peak velocity in the pitch. Although many people are not aware about the physics going on around them, it is happening at every second. With that said, we can get a better understanding of the physics around us by using Newton’s Laws of Motion. According to the Glenn Research Center, Newton’s first law of motion is that “an object at rest remains at rest, and an object in motion remains in motion at constant speed and in a straight line unless acted on by an unbalanced force” (Newton). This is seen in softball when a player picks up a ball at rest then throws it. Secondly, the next law is force and explained as, “The acceleration of an object depends on the mass of the object and the amount of force applied” (Newton). We see this in softball when the ball is released by the pitcher due to the pitcher’s greatest force from that push. Then as the ball travels towards the plate, the batter will hit the ball which creates the bat being the new largest force which then dictates the ball’s new motion. Lastly, the third law of motion is the action and reaction which states that, “Whenever one object exerts a force on another object, the second object exerts an equal and opposite force on the first” (Newton). This can be seen in softball when a player catches a pop fly. When the ball falls into the player’s glove, the ball is at rest and stops. This is due to the ball falling down while the player’s hand is having the force up which creates that equal and opposite motion of the ball. Like mentioned above, physics plays a huge role in physics. In Chapter 5, we have learned about energy in physics. Kinetic energy plays a huge role in motion as it is the energy a body has due to its motion. To find a pitcher’s velocity, we can use the equation, velocity equals the force applied by the pitcher times the distance the ball travels before release. To reach peak velocity in a pitch, it is very critical to get the softball motion correct and the motion creates momentum. For instance, the pitcher will stand on the mound with her front foot forward and 3 back foot back. The pitcher will then rock back then push forward and use the mound as a “push off” for more momentum. Then the pitcher will step towards the plate and do a windmill-like motion to create acceleration. Moving forward, to get a better understanding of this phenomenon, we can calculate a pitcher’s fastball by multiplying the mass of the softball by the average velocity of her fastball (p=mv). A 60 mph fast ball will be converted to 26.8 m/s so by using the equation we can add in p=(0.1984 kg)(26.8 m/s) which equals 5.32 kg m/s. But seed is not most important when trying to throw off batters. A pitcher may throw an offspeed pitch to try to trick the batter when they swing. This pitch’s goal is to make the batter swing early because the pitcher will use the same motion as her fastball but will use less momentum in her snap to ensure a lower speed. We can find this momentum again by plugging in a 40 mph changeup in the p=mv equation. So, after conversion to m/s, p=(0.1984 kg)(17.88 m/s) the momentum is calculated to 3.54 kg m/s which is significantly lower than the fastball. Not only are there fastball and changeup in softball, but pitches such as rise, drop, curve, and screw. These pitches are all designed with different spins to ensure different movement towards the plate. A drop ball for instance, is a pitch that will drop down as it travels towards the plate. This pitch is thrown with the top of the ball rotating towards the batter and away from the pitcher. This is known to have top spin and high-to-low trajectory. The top spin on the ball lowers the air pressure below the ball which leaves the air pressure higher above the ball causing a dropping effect that results in a successful drop ball. To understand a rise ball, it will have the opposite effect. Then for a curve and a screw, those pitches are side-to-side movements that will move to the inside or outside corner of the plate. 4 In the sequence of softball, once the pitcher has released the ball from her pitching motion, the batter will then need to swing the bat in order to hit the ball the pitcher has pitched. This is called hitting, which is very physics based when you get into depth with it. One major subject that was over in class that can relate to hitting is the forces that belong with it. Two major forces that can be found in hitting are angular momentum and torque. Angular momentum is defined as “the quantity of rotation of a body.” This can be seen as a cross-product of an object’s position and linear momentum. Angular momentum translates to hitting as it is seen when the batter’s hands are being moved to the ball in an arc-like direction to be able to transfer the body’s movement to the bat. Angular momentum is then transferred to the bat in the form of acceleration because of the batter’s rotational body movements. Torque is defined as “a measure of the force that can cause an object to rotate about an axis.” It is translated to hitting as an act of force during the batter’s swing. According to Khan Academy, “torque is what causes an object to acquire angular acceleration.” We can apply force by taking the distance from the axis from the rotation point in which the force is being acted upon and multiplying it by the object. Torque is applied to the barrel of the bat when the batter uses their forearms and hands as a working load to push the barrel of the bat through the strike zone in order to hit the softball with pushing and pulling like actions. This can help a player’s knowledge in the game by allowing them to apply torque within their swing to maintain their hands in a circular path to maximize their bat speed. As the batter moves along with their swing, the ball will then eventually turn into a hit. These hits can be anywhere from ground balls, fly balls, pop-ups, or even homeruns over the fence with a distance of 200 feet measured from home plate. With the help of physics, the velocity of the falling object, in this case the softball, can be found by using the equation v=gt after the softball has been hit or thrown without any air resistance involved. According to 5 Universe Today, “air resistance describes the forces that are in opposition to the relative motion of an object as it passes through the air.” This tells us that an object may fall with air resistance with both its speed and acceleration changing during its motion. With this information, we can figure out that air resistance has an effect on softball by slowing down the ball when in motion due to the air resistance pushing up on the ball. This relates to the Universal Law of Gravity by Isaac Newton that states “any particle of matter in the universe attracts any other with a force varying directly as the product of the masses and inversely as the square of the distance between them” (Newton). In other words, saying that everything that goes up, must come down. This idea relates to softball in many situations like when the bat is thrown after a hit, a pop fly is hit in the outfield, a ball is thrown, and when a player jumps to catch a ball and land back on the ground. After the process of a player hitting the softball and getting the ball put into play, the next scenario that would happen would be baserunning, which is when the batter needs to run to the base in hopes of being called safe by the umpire. With using a single as a reference, the player needs to have a hard first step out of the batter’s box by transferring the energy from their back leg forward in order to get the momentum they need to run towards the first base line. The first couple of steps out of the batter’s box may be at a slower velocity, but this will quickly change as the runner picks up speed resulting in acceleration. Once the runner approaches the bag their first goal is to hit the front of the base ensuring they get the fastest time possible to beat out the thrown from the opposing team and be called safe. Their next goal as they approach the base while hitting the front of the base is to create a lean forward movement with their body in their running motion to gain more momentum and ensure that all the force is working towards their way of motion. Another expectation of baserunning is the runner getting to multiple bases at once. Taking a double as reference, the runner will to the same motions after the hit the ball, but 6 once they approach first base they will need to take an angle to the base so they are able to hit the inside corner of the base to create a change in their direction as well as push off the bag to gain momentum and acceleration to get to second base. To ensure safety when a baserunner is approaching a base, the runner may do a movement called a side/dive to avoid a tag from the defender. This type of action relates to physics by kinetic friction, which is defined as “a force that acts between moving surfaces.” It is also found that “a body moving on the surface experiences a force in the opposite direction of its movement” which helps us realize that kinetic friction is a part of everything that interferes with the motion of two or more objects. This relates to sliding/diving as this act of motion results in kinetic friction as it slows down the baserunner when they are approaching the base. Overall, physics is the most fundamental of sciences that is used to understand how the universe behaves. Physics can relate to anything in the world, but this paper has gone over the relationship between softball and physics and how softball relates to topics that we have gone over throughout the course. Connecting softball to physics wasn’t just beneficial to understand the topics in class but also beneficial to us softball players. By knowing all of the information but the physics in softball, we can maximize our game and find ways to improve with the use of physics. With all of the information researched, one can say that softball is a great way to show the many ways of how physics can relate to life. 7 References “Newton's Laws of Motion - Glenn Research Center.” NASA, NASA, 27 Oct. 2022, https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/beginners-guide-to-aeronautics/newtons-laws-of-motion/#:~:t ext=Newton's%20First%20Law%3A%20Inertia&text=Newton's%20first%20law%20stat es%20that,action%20of%20an%20external%20force. “Newton's Law of Gravitation.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/science/Newtons-law-of-gravitation. Williams, Matt. “What Is Air Resistance?” Universe Today, 17 May 2016, https://www.universetoday.com/73315/what-is-air-resistance/. Admin. “Kinetic Friction - Definition, Types, Examples, Questions.” BYJUS, BYJU'S, 18 Aug. 2022, https://byjus.com/physics/kinetic-friction/#:~:text=Kinetic%20friction%20is%20defined %20as,Table%20of%20Contents. “Torque (Article).” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/torque-angular-momentum/torque-tutorial/ a/torque#:~:text=What%20is%20torque%3F,Torque%20is%20a%20vector%20quantity.
