Updated Mon, Apr 29, 2013 9:21 pm
On this edition of Conversations from Studio B, host Tom Hodson talks with Dr. Alan Nathan, professor emeritus of physics at the University of Illinois.
Nathan and Hodson discuss the physics of baseball, including the science behind a homerun, the advantages and disadvanages of wooden bats, and how a pitchers mechanics can affect their fastball.
“The ball and the bat are in contact with each other for a really, really short amount of time, a thousandth of a second, or there about. And a lot is going on in that time. The ball has to come to a stop before it can go the other way. And the way it comes to a stop is by basically taking most of its energy and compresses, like a spongy spring”, says Nathan.
Dr. Nathan was in Athens to present a lecture to the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Ohio University.