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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
OT - Break of a curveball
Kevin Seale, Photographer
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Crawfordsville | IN | United States | Posted: 11:21 AM on 11.08.09 |
->> I thought that since this is a community of folks who cover a lot of sports that some might find this interesting.
'Breaking' Curveballs Are Part Illusion
The answer to the question of whose curveball breaks harder that of the Yankees' A.J. Burnett or the Phillies' Cole Hamels may be neither. Zhong-Lin Lu, professor of cognitive neuroscience at USC, along with colleagues from USC and American University, developed a simple visual demo that suggests a curveball's break is, at least in part, a trick of the eye. The curveball's effect is due to batters being forced to switch between peripheral vision and central vision during a swing. See the link below for the demonstration.
Source: http://illusioncontest.neuralcorrelate.com/2009/the-break-of-the-curveball/ |
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Dave Einsel, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Houston | TX | United States | Posted: 11:35 AM on 11.08.09 |
| ->> I still couldn't hit either one with a car door. |
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David A. Cantor, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Toledo | OH | USA | Posted: 11:52 AM on 11.08.09 |
| ->> "Forget about the curve ball Ricky, give him the heater." |
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Chuck Steenburgh, Photographer
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Lexington | VA | USA | Posted: 11:52 AM on 11.08.09 |
| ->> I had a college physics professor who had a similar demonstration refuting the age-old "optical illusion" theory relating to curve balls. Wish it was online somewhere... |
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Dennis Wierzbicki, Photographer
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Byron Hetzler, Photographer
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Granby | CO | USA | Posted: 1:55 PM on 11.08.09 |
->> David, another great curveball line:
"Charlie, here comes the deuce. And when you speak of me, speak well." |
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 2:12 PM on 11.08.09 |
->> Igor Sikorsky is one of my heroes, but his wind tunnel testing did not take into account the balance between the momentum of the forward motion of the ball vs. the lateral force of the ball's spin. When the speed of the ball falls below a certain point, the lateral forces will exceed the forward momentum and the ball will break laterally.
And if you're in a falling elevator and jump just before...
--Mark |
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Kevin Seale, Photographer
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Crawfordsville | IN | United States | Posted: 2:16 PM on 11.08.09 |
->> Chuck/Dennis,
I don't think they are saying it does not curve, just that it your brain perceives it curving more that it really does. |
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Dennis Wierzbicki, Photographer
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Plainfield | IL | USA | Posted: 2:33 PM on 11.08.09 |
->> One of my prof's in undergrad Eng. school was a former MiLB pitcher who also happens to be a PhD in Mech Engineering. He contended (and photographically proved via strobe photos) that yes the curve ball does curve, but that it curves at a relatively constant arc - in other words, the concept of a ball "dropping off the edge of a table" is in fact an optical illusion.
He literally wrote the book on the topic:
http://tinyurl.com/yzzcvkg
Called "Keep Your Eye On the Ball: Curve Balls, Knuckleballs, and Fallacies of Baseball" |
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Gary Shook, Photographer
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Otsego | MI | USA | Posted: 12:03 AM on 11.09.09 |
| ->> I remember Dizzy Dean having said something to the effect, "Put that writer behind a tree 60' 6" away and I would plunk him every time!" |
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Alan Stewart, Photographer
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Jeff Martin, Photographer
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wellington | OH | usa | Posted: 5:21 PM on 11.09.09 |
| ->> Of course the only time I see a curve ball is on TV, which kinda kills the theory for viewers. |
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