Play Ball
by Tori G.
1st Place - Physics

Question - My question is when hit with an aluminum bat, which will go further, low, medium, or high compression?

Research - For this experiment I had to research the sweet spot and my 3 different types of balls.  The sweet spot is the fattest part of the bat or the barrel.  When you hit a hard ball with a soft bat it equals a hard hit.

Hypothesis - My hypothesis is the high compression ball will go the furthest.

Experiment - The steps of my experiment were to hit 3 different compression balls 20 times.  Then to get rid of the highest and lowest lengths so the averages wouldn’t be affected by the odd balls (No pun intended)

Analysis - While doing my experiment I noticed that the high compression ball went the furthest and in the end my hypothesis was correct.  All the things I expected to happen happened. The low, medium, and high compression softballs ended up in that order respectively.

Discovery - While doing this experiment I learned that you want to hit the ball in the sweet spot of the bat to get the best result.  I also learned that if you want your hit to go really far, than you need to hit a high compression soft ball.

Bibliography
USYD, 2002-2007, “Physics of Baseball,” University of Sydney {accessed February 17, 2008} http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~cross/baseball.html

Picky Guide, “Guide to Softballs,” {accessed February 13, 2008} http://www.pickyguide.com/sports_and_recreation/softballs_guide.html

SBS Sports, “A.S.A. Bat and Ball Certification Program, Softballs-COR and Compression,” {accessed February 19, 2008} http://www.sbssports.com/softball/asa_bat_ball_testing.asp