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According to a new study on the Magnus effect, the secret to launch a lightning fastball is in the thick of it.
Dr. Barton Smith of University of Utah State – an engineer in mechanics and aerospace who loves the American pastime – joined the doctoral student Nazmus Sakib to study the dynamics of baseball fluids.
The pair discovered that a fastball with an unexpected twist can make or break a match for a team. They also found that the way some locations are explained is "totally wrong," Smith said in a press release.
The key is a combination of baseball asymmetry and the so-called Magnus effect. Baseballs are not symmetrical because of the stitching that holds them together. The Magnus effect – the force exerted on the rotating ball as it moves through the air – determines how it will move.
Together, the two variables mean that rotating a launcher on a fastball can make it even harder to hit. A ball with a topspin will fall faster, while a ball with a backspin will gain a bit of lift, slowing down but not stopping its fall, said Smith and Sakib.
The two engineers strove to determine the magnitude of the effect of the Magnus effect on baseball. They also wanted to know why the knuckleball – with almost no rotation – and the two-seam fastball do not seem to behave as they should because of the Magnus effect.
They set up a throwing machine to deliver fast ball after fast ball through the smoke. The laser sensors controlled a series of automatic photographs to capture images of bullet and smoke. Then, using particle image velocimetry, Smith and Sakib calculated the velocity field around each bullet as well as its rotation at several different times. They also calculated something they called the "boundary separation layer" to find the part of the ball surface where the air had separated to form its wake.
They discovered that a fast two-seamed ball had an inclined axis of rotation, as one finger left the surface later than the other. This can cause lateral movement of the ball. With a ball joint, the air separation point can change unexpectedly, thus changing the movement of the ball.
Both hopes can use what they have learned about the Magnus effect to improve their games.
Smith and Sakib present their findings at the American Physical Society conference. 71st Annual Meeting of the Division of Fluid Dynamics, which begins today in Atlanta, Georgia and continues until Tuesday
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