Meina Zhou March 16, 2013 Midterm Project

Baseball projection
Problem Statement
During a baseball game, the famous baseball player Babe Ruth is going to throw a ball. The ball will then be launched as soon as possible, following a curved trajectory until it hits the ground. The horizontal distance that the ball travels is determined by the height h he holds the ball, the direction in which he will project it, the initial projecting speed V, and the drag force that the ball will face. The drag force (sometimes called air resistance) refers to the force which acts on a solid object in the direction of relative fluid flow velocity. We can calculate the drag force by a the fluid v, the drag coefficient C and the reference area A. The magnitude of the drag force is proportional to the square of velocity. The equation of the drag force is Questions: projected and the horizon, and the initial projecting speed V, how far will the ball travel horizontally? 2. What is the best angle to project the ball in order to achieve the maximum horizontal distance? Create a two-dimensional plot showing how the horizontal distance that the ball travels depends .

Model
Assumption: I assume that the baseball travels with an initial height of h (m) and speed V (m/sec) at an For simplification purposes, I will use my own assumptions about the independent variables that determine the drag force. Here, I suppose that the drag coefficient equals to 0.47 (cited from the Wikipedia). The reference area A equals to 0.05 meters squared. The density of the . The number 1.293 is the density of Air at 0 C and 1 atmosphere (cited from Wikipedia). The mass of tha baseball equals to 1 kg. Hence, the drag force (newton).

Creating the model: The two-dimensional projection of the baseball can be divided into two components: the horizontal motion and the vertical motion. The initioal speed V can be separated into horizontal V and vertical velocity V . By basic trignometry properties: ; . Given the horizontal and vertical velocity, I can determine the horizontal and vertical positions

of the baseball as functions of time. I will discuss about three different cases of the projection: the projection without the consideration about the drag force, the projection with the horizontal drag force and the projection with the vertical drag force. Case 1: the projection without the consideration of the drag force Without the drag force, the horizontal motion of the baseball is only influenced by the initial horizontal velocity because there is no other external force acting to the baseball in the horizontal direction. So the function of the horizontal position is . For the vertical motion of the baseball, the influence of the gravity should be taken into account. The vertical position of the baseball is . Here the g stands

for the acceleration due to gravity. Here, I assume the constant g equals to 9.8. In order to find out the time t, I will solve the equation P =0. > (1.2.1) >

> (1.2.2) Case 2: the projection with the consideration of the horizontal drag force With the horizontal drag force, the horizontal velocity will decrease as the time increases. From Newton's law, we know that F=m*a. So the acceleration in the horizontal direction is . Additionally, from basic physics knowlodge, V=

By solving this equation, we will get V , which is the decreasing horizontal velocity: > (1.2.3)

So the decreasing horizontal velocity

Because there is no vertical drag force, the vertical position function is again

> (1.2.4) Case 3: the projection with the consideration of the vertical drag force Because there is no other force in the horizontal direction, the function of the horizontal position is again In the vertical direction, the baseball is facing both the gravity force and the drag force. So the vertical acceleration the baseball faces equals to the net force divided by the mass of the ball:

Here we solve this equation to get the unconstant vertical velocity > (1.2.5)

Again, we solve the equation

>

(1.2.6)

>

>

(1.2.8)

Implementation

I will first define the function of horizontal position > (1.3.1) > (1.3.2) travels: > (1.3.3)

9.631574417 >

(1.3.3)

horizontal distance varies with angle

10

horizontal distance m

0 16 8 16 4 16 angle q 8 16 2

Case 2: the projection with the consideration of the horizontal drag force

I will first define the function of horizontal position

>

(1.3.4)

Again, I s distance the ball travels: > 8.52693143 (1.3.5) Obeservation: I found that with the same height, initial velocity and angle, the distance that the baseball travels in the case with horizontal drag force is shorter than the case without the horizontal drag force. >

horizontal2 distance varies with2 angle drag force 10

6 horizontal distance m 4

0 16 8 16 4 16 angle q 8 16 2

Conclusion: Again, the best angle to project the baseball is Pi/4. It is interesting that the shape of the curve does not change. We can achieve the new curve by parellel shifting down the curve in the first case. Case 3: the projection with the consideration about the vertical drag force

I will first define the function of horizontal position >

> 8.290767126 (1.3.7) Obeservation: I found that with the same height, initial velocity and angle, the distance that the baseball travels in the case with vertical drag force is even shorter than the case withthe horizontal drag force.

>

horizontal distance varies with2 angle vertical drag force 9 8 7 6 horizontal distance m 5 4 3 2 1 0 16 8 16 4 16 angle q 8 16 2

Conclusion: We can achieve the maximum horizontal distance at an angle of Pi/4. However, the shape of the curve in case 3 is different from those curves in case 1 and case 2.

Assessment
In this project, I work on three different baseball projection cases: the projection without drag force, the projection with only horizontal drag force, and the projection with only vertical drag force. All the three cases show that to maximize the horizontal distance the baseball travels, the baseball player needs to throw the ball at the angle of Pi/4. Both the horizontal and vertical drag force decrease the distance that the baseball travels in the horizontal direction. Potential Concern I'm not satisfied by the outcome of case three because I was not able to find an explicit way to calculate the unconstant vertical velocity of the baseball while taking into account of the vertical drag force. Without the knowing the changing vertical velocity, I could not figure out the how large the influence of the vertical drag force is on the baseball since the magnitude of the vertical drag force is proportional to the square of velocity. Function of this maple worksheet People can use this maple worksheet to calculate the horizontal distance that the baseball will

the horizon. This maple worksheet gives people a graphical view of how the horizontal distance the ball travels varies with the angle theta. Data Limitation and More Case However, I haven't combined the horizontal and vertical drag force into one projection case. Combining those two drag forces together may leads to a different outcome. Additionally, my assumptions about all the independent variables such as the drag coefficient, the density of the fluid, the surface area and the mass of the baseball cause inaccuracy in my conclusion. The error will not be of great significance because the influence of the drag force is very small on the baseball compared to the influence of the gravity. Future Work In order to improve the outcome of this model, future work may include finding out more accurate data such as the surface area of the ball, the drag force coefficient, and the density of the fluid. Even though doing more research on data improves the accuracy of the outcomes, it may leads to lower efficiency because of the higher cost and longer investigation time. Assessing the projection with both the horizontal and vertical drag force will also help people to understand the influence of the drag force better.