Alan Nathan
18K posts
Alan Nathan
@pobguy
Physics Prof, UIllinois; APS Fellow; ex-nuclear, now baseball physicist; SABR Chadwick Award. Interests: US history; ConLaw; politics; WWI. All views my own.
- I've done lots of analyses of unusual events, including broken bat hits. This one is truly challenging and probably beyond my ability.whoa this bat broke before contact
00:00 - Using my Trajectory Calculator, I estimate a spin of 3900 rpm, leading to a distance of 353 ft and an apex of 188 ft. The Magnus force does indeed exceed gravity, resulting in an upward curvature for the first 1.4 s (115 horizontal ft) of flight.183 feet of altitude on a home run is just ridiculous
00:00 - With Opening Day not far off, it's time to show off my new weather vane.
- You gotta love this: Seam Shifted Wake on a batted ball. The effect of seams on the flight of a ball applies whether the ball is pitched or batted. Same underlying physics applies in both cases. RT @PitchingNinja: Justin Turner, Knuckleball (isolated)
- Using my trajectory calculator, I took a look at fly ball distances with EV=102 mph, LA=30 deg. I compared sea level with Mexico City (elev 7349 ft), and found a difference of 40 ft (418' vs 458')!
- It is very hard for me to understand why someone actually needs one of these, except to carry out mass murder.This is what an AR-15 looks like
- Back in September, I gave a physics of baseball lecture as part of the Physics for Everyone series sponsored by @PhysicsIllinois. I have to admit, somewhat immodestly, that this was one of my better efforts (and lots of fun). You can watch it here:
- On this date in 1946, Ted Williams hits his "red seat" home run at Fenway. Here is my estimate of the trajectory.
- Two consecutive tweets on my timeline from today, the 18th anniversary of 9/11.
- Looks like nearly perfect gyrospin (i.e., close to zero spin efficiency).Diego Castillo, Wicked 90mph back foot Slider (spin axis). 🤢
GIF - An example of a "paradoxical popup", about which I wrote a paper in 2008. baseball.physics.illinois.edu/AJP-Aug2008.pdfThis post is unavailable.
- Replying to @KeithOlbermann @SABRbbcards and 3 othersSorry, Keith. You are wrong. How do I know? Because *I* did the analysis that Jane included in her book. Go back and check Chapter 6, especially the graph on p. 102.
- I have spent my whole adult life surrounded by really, really smart people, some of whom might even be labeled "genius". Not a single one of them has ever found the need to claim that he/she is smart. Not one. Ever.
