Physics of Baseball & Softball
This book describes the physics of baseball and softball, assuming that the reader has a background in both physics and mathematics at the high school level. The physics is explained in a conversational style, and illustrated with experimental results obt
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Rod Cross
Physics of Baseball & Softball
ABC
Rod Cross School of Physics University of Sydney Sydney, New South Wales Australia [email protected]
ISBN 978-1-4419-8112-7 e-ISBN 978-1-4419-8113-4 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-8113-4 Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London Library of Congress Control Number: 2011921934 c Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface
The number of baseball and softball fans in the world is probably around 100 million. The number of people who are interested in physics might also be about 100 million. In theory, therefore, this book should appeal to somewhere between 100 million and 200 million people. However, the number of people who are seriously interested in both physics and baseball or softball is somewhat less than this. Only a handful of physicists in the world have actually conducted serious studies of the physics of baseball and softball. Not because the subject does not interest them, but because they are usually too busy doing other serious physics work. If they were caught out doing fun baseball experiments on the side, it might give the false impression that they were not being properly employed. Partly because of the nature of the subject, there have been many more engineers and biomechanists and even historians and economists who have engaged in academic studies of baseball and softball. While baseball is known as the national pastime in the USA and softball is even more popular in terms of the total number of players, sport is not a high priority area when it comes to government or even private funding of physics research. Nevertheless, physics laboratories are usually sufficiently well equipped for anyone who is so inclined to sneak in some sports research on the side. That is how I first managed to get involved, in 1995. I found it absolutely fascinating and I still do. Part of the fascination is in discovering things that were not previously known. The physics of sport is not a rich field for “new” physics, but it is fun using “old” physics to provide new insights into some of nature’s mysteries. The bounce of a ball is just one of those mysteries. Very little was known about the subject when I started in 1995, apart from some early w
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