Friction, forces, and momentum. how do they apply to baseball?

this is for a science project, these were the terms that we havent gone over yet, so i need some help. i need to know how they apply to baseball. i know like nothing, so any help is good. thanksFriction, forces, and momentum. how do they apply to baseball?
There are plenty of forces in baseball that take affect.


In order to strike out the batter, the pitcher has to apply a force to the ball. The speed and velocity of the ball is then determined by the pitcher. A pitcher can apply many different types of forces that cause the ball to do different unique things. For instance a pitcher can apply a force to the ball so that it sinks right as it gets close to the batter, making the batter think he will be able to swing at it. This is known as the curve ball. The pitchers arm acts like a lever giving him mechanical advantage allowing him to increase his force. Some pitchers can pitch a ball consistently at 99mph.





In catching the ball (out in the field) you are anticipating where that ball will land. You have to position yourself so that you can catch it. Since the ball travels in a parabola (do to gravity) you need to position your self half the distance of the maximum height. When doing this a baseball player is calculating the angle of where the ball will land.





The catcher that sits behind home plate has to control the force that the pitcher provides. This catcher stops 100 mph balls instantly. The force has to go somewhere. Where does it go? A lot of this force disburses into the glove, and less into the hand and arm. Years of training can teach you how to catch a fast ball with less pain. However sometimes a fast ball鈥檚 forces go straight into the hand and have caused some catcher鈥檚 hands to break. After a catcher has played a game they always ice down their hand from the reaction of stopping a large force.


Another force that a catcher faces are runners. A runner, like this one has a force and he thinks nothing is going to get in the way of him touching home plate but the force of the catcher sometimes stops him.





Dr. HFriction, forces, and momentum. how do they apply to baseball?
you have chosen a good topic for your project, but its quite wide and certainly cannot be explained in a paragraph. all this comes under Newtonian mechanics. any good book on physics will help you. if have a library nearby check out ';Fundamentals of Physics'; by Halliday, Resnick, Walker.


you might as well search in the internet or take the help of a physics teacher. hope this helps. all the best
there are some great papers written on this subject, although quite detailed in their analyses, i think you will find them infomative.





do a search for Gregory S. Sawicki and Mont Hubbard for their paper entitled, ';How to Hit Home Runs: Optimum baseball bat swing parameters for maximum range trajectories';





This paper was published in the American Journal of Physics in Novmeber 2003. Try the following URL





http://aapt.org/ajp