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The Effect of Mass on The Distance a Baseball Travels |
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Researched by Drew W.
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The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of baseball bat weight on the distance a baseball is hit.
I became interested in this idea when I saw Sammy Sosa get caught using a corked bat and get suspended for doing so. I wondered how much bat weight really affected hitting.
The information gained from this experiment could help those involved in baseball to see if corked bats should or shouldn’t be illegal.
My hypothesis was that the heavier the baseball bat was, the farther the ball would be hit.
I based my hypothesis on Microsoft Encarta which stated “momentum equals mass times velocity.” The heavier bat would have more mass and just a little less velocity than the lighter bats. Greater momentum of the bat should mean greater distance of the hit ball.
The constants in this study were:
- Batting Device
- Weight of bat before changes are made
- Length of bat
- Batting Tee
- Baseball
- Spring to provide force in batting device
The manipulated variable was the weight of the baseball bat used to hit the baseball.
The responding variable was the distance the different bats hit the baseball off the tee.
To measure the responding variable I will use a tape measure to calculate the distance the ball was hit.
| QUANTITY | ITEM DESCRIPTION |
| 3 | Solid Wooden Bats (same length and weight) |
| 1 | Vise |
| 1 | Workbench |
| 2 | Safety goggles |
| 1 | Drill |
| 1 | Rolled cork |
| 1 |
Scale |
| 1 | Wood putty |
| 1 | Sand paper |
| 1 | Screws |
| 2 | Eye Bolts |
| 2 | Springs |
| 1 | Hinge |
| 2 | Metal straps |
| 1 | 2-by-10-by-40-inch board |
| 1 | 2-by-6-by-26-inch board |
| 1 | Baseball |
| 1 | Batting tee |
| 1 | Screwdriver |
| 1 | Tape measure |
| 1box | BB’s |
| 1bag | Quickrete |
| 1 |
5-gallon bucket |
| 3 |
Angle Brackets |
| 6 |
Concrete screws |
Preparing the Bats
1. Drill down into tip of one bat
2. Hollow out chamber that is 1 inch in diameter and 8 inches deep
3. Repeat steps 1,2 for another bat
4. Fill one bat with rolled cork
5. Seal the top of the bat with wood putty
6. Fill other bat with BB’s
7. Seal the top of the bat with wood putty
8. When dry, use sandpaper to smooth the tips of bats
Building the Batting Devise
1. Attach end of smaller board to top of larger board with a hinge at 90 degree angle
2. Connect coiled spring between two boards and fasten with eye bolts
3. Screw two metal straps to horizontal board to support a baseball bat handle
4. Put bottom of the larger board in the bucket
5. Pour quickrete in bucket
6. Let sit overnight
7. Use angle brackets to screw bucket into the ground
Experiment
1. Attach handle of bat #1 to metal straps
2. Set batting tee at the height that the bat is at, so the bat will hit the ball
3. Place baseball on tee
4. Pull horizontal board back 180 degrees from its resting position and release
5. Measure the distance the ball flies to where it first hits ground
6. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for 10 times
7. Record and average results from where the ball first hits ground
8. Repeat steps 1-6 for other two bats
The original purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of baseball bat weight on the distance a baseball is hit.
The results of the experiment were that the heavier the bat was the farther the ball traveled. The bat filled with BB’s hit the baseball the farthest.
See my table and graphs
My hypothesis was that the heavier the baseball bat was, the farther the ball would be hit
The results indicate that this hypothesis should be accepted because the regular bat hit the ball farther than the corked bat, and the bat filled with BB’s hit the ball farther than the regular bat.
Because of the results of this experiment, I wonder if a heavier bat than the bat filled with BB’s, would hit the ball the farthest. Also, if the automatic batting device contained one or two more springs, would the ball travel farther due to greater swing speed of the bat. Finally, I wonder if using a brand new baseball for every trial would make a difference. If you look at my data, every fifth trial for each bat weight went the farthest. Maybe the ball had changed a little by being hit so many times.
If I were to conduct this project again I would make sure that the batting tee was at the same height every single swing. Also, I would do more trials for each bat; instead of 10 trials I would have done 20 trials. Most importantly, my automatic batting device was not the perfect way to test a corked bat. It did make the testing very consistent, but it did not have the “human effect” that would have been provided by a real batter. My results show that a corked bat made the ball go a shorter distance than a normal bat. This goes against my own common sense and against the reason MLB prohibits corked bats. I think that a better test would be to use several batters who do not know which bat (corked or not) they are using at that time and have them hit the ball many time each for every bat tested. This would be more of a “real life” situation and would be more meaningful.
I would like to thank the following people for helping make my project possible:
- My parents for helping me build the batting device and driving me to the after school classes
- Mr. Newkirk for helping me with my report and for putting up with me all year.
- Mrs. Helms for leading me in the right direction when I needed it.
- Rich Smith for letting me conduct my experiment in his warehouse.
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