Blog 6

This week, as we learned about momentum and impulse, I realized that I could take the topic and relate it to baseball.  Using the equation m1v1+m2v2=m1v1f+m2v2f, I found that I could find the final velocity of both the ball and a player after being beaned.  This equation is proved to be true because of the conservation of momentum.  Since a player being hit by a ball is a bouncy equation, the equation above is valid.  However, this equation is not elastic.  The main factor in the equation is the difference between the mass of the player and the mass of the ball.  Due to the extremely large difference, the player sees a very small change in velocity.  And, since the player is at rest to begin with, the only factor in the first part of the equation is the mv of the ball.  This is a very small number, due to the mass.  Since it is a small number, the velocity change felt by the player is also very small.  The ball also experiences a decrese in velocity, due to its losing of some momentum. 

Blog 5

During this week's lessons on work and power, I realized that I could relate the subject to my favorite sport, baseball.  When running down the base line, which is 90 feet, or 27.43 meters, I do work.  This work can be calculated with the equation, W=(Force)(distance traveled).  If I were to run powered by a net force of 10 newtons, my amount of work would be 274.3 Joules.  I can also use this work to find the amount of power that I produce.  Power can be found using the equation Work/Time.  If I were to run to first base in the average time, 4.4 sec, my Power would be 62.34 Watts.  This seems to be a very small power, which may be due to the fact that the force I used above is very small.  With my mass at around 80kg, a force of 10N would mean that I had an acceleration under .125m/s.  I was amazed to find the ideas of Power and Work in baseball.