Physics of Hitting a Homerun
For this project we had the task of designing a video that talked about the physics behind a certain motion. Our motion was hitting a home run in baseball.
Over the last three weeks we have been working on our physics of sports videos. Our intent was to create a video explaining the physics behind a sports single action, such as throwing a football or shooting an arrow, you get the idea. My team decided that we were going to do a video on hitting a baseball, for me and another team member have experience with baseball and love the sport as well. The video turned into the physics of hitting a homerun. The other intent of this video was to help the San Marin sports department get a better understanding of a sport. Further more allowing them to improve their performance as a team, and as individuals. The first thing we did after coming up with our "game plan" was creating a story board and script for our project. When that was finished we began filming, which was difficult. You had to get all the correct angles and such. Then me and my other team member Olivia figured out the calculation, or our physics concepts, with a little help from Mr.Williams. After getting the filming and calculations finished we had the task of actually creating out video. With the amazing Christian Pederson we were able to do so and collaborate on how it was all going to play out. This project has given me a new insight on how to hit a homerun.
Concepts (all in video)
Potential Energy- Is the energy an object has at a certain position and is calculated by multiplying mass times height times acceleration due to gravity. In our case we had to figure out the potential energy of the bat which was 4.425 Joules.
Acceleration- Which is the rate of change in an objects motion and is calculated by dividing the change in velocity and the change in time. The acceleration of the baseball bat was 22.41 m/s^2.
Force- Can be described as a push or pull and is calculated by multiplying mass time acceleration. In our case we were trying to find the force of the collision of the bat against the ball so we had to use the equation mv=ft or momentum=impulse. The force of the bat against the ball is 6,525 Newton's.
Reflection
This project was a difficult task at hand with many new learning opportunities. Our overall video worked out very nicely ,and in my opinion, was a great success. Something new I learned about myself was that, I am really good at writing scripts and storyboarding. When we were doing this ideas just came into my head, bam, one after the other. What we were going to say, when, what angles this shot was going to be shot at. When we were writing the script things we were going to say just kept flowing out of my mouth like butter sliding off a steaming hot pancake. One other thing I learned about myself is that I really did like learning about the physics of hitting a baseball/homerun. I mean all this information the transfers of energy, the scary amount of force applied at contact, the aftermath acceleration of the ball, the knowledge was just so fascinating. Some things I could have done better were understanding how to make a movie, and be more familiar with my generations technology. I felt bad, I mean I was contributing and putting my ideas out when we were editing our film but I just couldn't understand what the heck Christian was doing. I will hopefully learn how to make a movie for future projects and reference. Another thing I need to work on is accepting that some people will just anger, annoy, and irritate you, but you have to work around that and get the task at hand done. There was a tiny bit of conflict between me and another team member, but I had attempted to work around it. Usually we got along and some day's we didn't. I just wish I would have ignored my flared temper and surppressed it but now I know how to control it. I also know how to fuel it into good use and time. With time and experience comes wisdom so now I will bring the wisdom I have gained into future projects, and my future as a person.