Evidence
This is our Physics of Sports Video. Our task was to make a video explaining the physics of a sports action and use that to teach people how to make themselves better. Our video was about the physics of pitching a fastball. We will present this video in our school Film Festival on November 14. We hope you like what we have created.
Physics of a Pitch
Definitions
Velocity- rate of covered distance in a direction
Equation- v=d/t
Unit- Meters/Second
Horizontal Velocity- rate of covered distance in a horizontal direction
Equation- Horizontal Distance/time
Unit- Meters/Second
Vertical Velocity- the rate of covered distance of a falling object
Equation- V=gt
Unit- Meters/Second
Total Velocity- the velocity of an object with the cumulative effects of 2 directions
Equation- Vertical Velocity^2 + Horizontal Velocity^2 = Total Velocity^2 (Pythagorean Theorem/Vector Addition)
Unit- Meters/Second
Acceleration- rate of change in velocity (speeding up/slowing down)
Equation- a=v/t
Unit- Meters/Second^2
Force- push or pull on an object
Equation- F=ma
Unit- Newtons
Distance- The space between object
Equation- d=(1/2)(a)t^2
Unit- meters (m)
Force of Impact- The amount of force an object has when it hits another object
Equation- mv=Ft (Momentum/Impulse)
Unit- N
Momentum- the tendency of a moving object to keep moving (how hard it is to stop)
Equation- p=mv or mv=Ft
Unit- Ns
Impulse- how long and how forcefully something is pushed (amount of shove)
Equation- J=Ft or mv=Ft
Unit- Ns
Velocity- rate of covered distance in a direction
Equation- v=d/t
Unit- Meters/Second
Horizontal Velocity- rate of covered distance in a horizontal direction
Equation- Horizontal Distance/time
Unit- Meters/Second
Vertical Velocity- the rate of covered distance of a falling object
Equation- V=gt
Unit- Meters/Second
Total Velocity- the velocity of an object with the cumulative effects of 2 directions
Equation- Vertical Velocity^2 + Horizontal Velocity^2 = Total Velocity^2 (Pythagorean Theorem/Vector Addition)
Unit- Meters/Second
Acceleration- rate of change in velocity (speeding up/slowing down)
Equation- a=v/t
Unit- Meters/Second^2
Force- push or pull on an object
Equation- F=ma
Unit- Newtons
Distance- The space between object
Equation- d=(1/2)(a)t^2
Unit- meters (m)
Force of Impact- The amount of force an object has when it hits another object
Equation- mv=Ft (Momentum/Impulse)
Unit- N
Momentum- the tendency of a moving object to keep moving (how hard it is to stop)
Equation- p=mv or mv=Ft
Unit- Ns
Impulse- how long and how forcefully something is pushed (amount of shove)
Equation- J=Ft or mv=Ft
Unit- Ns
Physics
The average velocity of my pitch is 23.05 m/s or about 51 m/h. We calculated the velocity by using the equation distance/time so the distance, 18.4 meters divided by the time, 0.8 seconds, is 23.05 m/s. The total velocity is 23.16. The vertical velocity is 2.3 m/s and the horizontal velocity is 23.05 m/s. So we use the Pythagorean Theorem to calculate the total velocity which is 23.16m/s. The force of me pushing off the ground is 467N (47kg/105lbs) which is my weight and some of that force goes into throwing the ball. The force of the ball 11.1N. We measured the force of the ball by taking the mass of the ball, 0.145 kilograms, and multiplying it by the acceleration of the ball, 77 m/s^2 which gives us a force of 11.1N. You can apply more force to the ball by flicking your wrist and pushing off your back foot. The momentum of the ball is 3.3Ns. We calculated this by taking the velocity of the ball, 23.05m/s, and multiplying it by the mass pf the ball, 0.145kg, to get the momentum of the ball which is 3.3Ns. You can increase this momentum by leading with your hip and extending your lead foot as far as you can. This helps force your momentum forward.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I think that this project was fun and very good because it is something that people can apply to something they love. However, there are definitely things that that our group can work on. One thing that we could've worked on is team chemistry. It is important for a team to be able to work together and if they can't, they don't make a good team. We definitely had trouble working together as a team and had trouble with trying to get the entire team to contribute equally. Another thing that we could've worked on was focus. If a team is not focused, then that team cannot accomplish anything efficiently. We had a problem with staying focused because we were distracted by other groups and people. If we stayed focused on the project, we could've completed this video with better quality.
Despite our flaws as a team, we did have things that we did fairly good at. One thing that we did good on was planning and execution. I think that we did really good with planning with our script as well as our storyboard. Also, we generally followed the storyboard and script which is important for planning and time management. These are my final thoughts and what I thought we did well and what we need to work on.
Despite our flaws as a team, we did have things that we did fairly good at. One thing that we did good on was planning and execution. I think that we did really good with planning with our script as well as our storyboard. Also, we generally followed the storyboard and script which is important for planning and time management. These are my final thoughts and what I thought we did well and what we need to work on.