Use the Force Freddy, the Magnus Force

Use the Force Freddy, the Magnus Force

On NPR I heard a story about Freddy Garcia who is a pitcher for the NY Yankees. He also pitched for the Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Phillies, and Seattle Mariners. NPR: http://goo.gl/wWBEo

On April 29, 2011 Freddy through a split-fingered fastball to strike out the Toronto Blue Jays’ Juan Rivera. The pitch caught the eye of Mike Fast, then a writer for Baseball Prospectus. He contacted a friend, Alan Nathan, who happens to be a physicist at the University of Illinois. Alan has a blog, The Physics of Baseball. Fortunately the pitch was caught on high-speed video. Using the high-speed video, Alan determined that the pitch used the Magnus force.

The Magnus Force

The spin of a baseball is fast enough that it will create a difference in drag force between two sides of the ball, top and bottom for example. Here’s a great explanation and figure:  http://goo.gl/1JtYJ

The details from Alan are posted here:

Hardball Times: http://goo.gl/vJhZZ

Physics of Baseball: http://goo.gl/11Q2W

On July 17, 2012 Freddy did it again, which could be the reason it showed up in the NY Times recently.

NY Times: http://goo.gl/84Ukt

#ScienceSunday  (ScienceSunday ) curated by Allison Sekuler Rajini Rao Robby Bowles and me. We are delighted to have Buddhini Samarasinghe as our guest curator today and next Sunday.

#nyyankees   #physics