Design of a Baseball

The forces going with or against a baseball change the way that baseball is played and change the design of a baseball. Drag can be described as the wind or air resistance against an object. There are 2 types of drag: pressure drag and skin friction drag. Both forces could be working on a baseball but with this experiment only pressure drag will be working against the baseball because the baseball will not be touching the ground until it is stopped on the ground. Pressure drag is caused with the air particles slowing the object down. They slow the object down by being more compressed or together at the front of the object but more spaced out at the back of the object. Behind the object there is a low- pressure zone which an example of this is in northern states it is easier to hit homeruns and easier for the ball to move faster because of the thinner air. FD=1/2CDApV2 is the equation to find the drag of an object. FD is the drag force, CD is the drag coefficient the lower the number is the less the drag will be on the object.

A circular object has 1.12 CD. A is the front area of the object, p is the density of air, and V is the speed the object is travelling in m/s. If aerodynamic drag could be virtually eliminated, then everything could be going at a much higher speed. A force is a vector which means it is a movement going in a specific direction. There are three forces working on an object, but the one that is holding it back is drag. Lift and drag work together on a baseball during different pitches like the knuckleball which moves in a circular motion. Drag only works through a fluid like gas or liquid. Drag is also a mechanical force and not a field force because it is not created by gravity or any kind of field like that. Drag mainly affects the center of gravity or center of mass of an object.

Gravity is a force that everyone has to experience every day, and based on the mass of the object, the more weight the object has. The acceleration due to gravity on earth is 9.81m/s squared. Every object has gravity but based on its size its gravity can vary. Gravity has an effect on everything and the more weight something has the more gravity will have an effect on it. Gravity pulls everything toward itself which is what keeps the universe in order and what keeps everyone from floating off in space. The more force an object has going forward the less it will go to the ground or it will have a less effect on it until it slows down. Gravity exists between two different masses pulling against each other.

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