ThE pHySiCs In SoFtBaLL

Today, I played softball with my cousin, my brother, and their friends at ala wai park. We thought it was going to rain out, but luckily it cleared up, and it actually became a really nice day so we got to play. I haven't swung a bat since a couple years ago when I used to hit balls with my brother at the park, so I was a bit nervous, but it was all just for fun. At my first at-bat, I used this really heavy bat, so the bat controlled me more than I controlled the bat. It was actually pretty sad. But I managed to make contact with the ball and it went pretty far for my standards. This brings me to the topic of momentum, mass times velocity. I did not swing the bat that fast, but the mass of the bat made up for it, and I was still able to hit the softball pretty far. At my next at-bat, I used a light, yellow bat and I made good contact again, but this time, it went a lot farther. This was because although the mass of the bat decreased, I was able to swing harder and faster, so its momentum increased and resulted in me hitting it farther. Unfortunately, the ball never traveled as far as I thought when I made contact because the wind was going against the ball, which provided air resistance, which is a non-conservative force, and pushed the ball backwards. This collision between the ball and the baseball bat also brings up the topic of impulse, or the change in momentum. Before the collision, the ball is traveling at a certain momentum, but this momentum is changed after the collision. This is an example of an inelastic collision since some of the energy becomes sound. There are tons of other physics things in action like the force of gravity and stuff, but those things are too obvious to mention. Overall, it was a fun experience. Softball is really fun.