How Balls Bounce and Fly: Physics of Baseball

Most sporting activities involve a ball. In comparison to the impacting device (bat, club, racket, paddle, etc) the ball is consumable and tends to receive relatively little attention. Yet the ball is complex, inelastic, highly non-linear, and is an integral part of determining equipment performance. This presentation will consider mechanisms where the ball contributes to equipment performance, how these properties are measured and used to control performance, and the effectiveness of current regulating practices. Ball aerodynamic behavior, for instance, is important in many sports, but is often not regulated or measured. Measuring ball aerodynamic response is complicated by the effect of spin on both lift and drag, while laboratory methodologies to achieve spin often interfere with its free flight flow behavior.

Speaker: Lloyd Smith, Washington State University

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