Timeline for A curveball in vacuum
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 6, 2023 at 1:01 | vote | accept | Chris Christopherson | ||
| Dec 5, 2022 at 1:35 | comment | added | Señor O | @ChrisChristopherson yes what you're saying is correct. And it's no coincidence that the amount a curveball curves is roughly on the order of the error you would get from "assuming no air resistance". i.e. if you get 10% error from assuming no air resistance, you'll likely see around 10% difference from the magnus effect on a curve ball vs. non-curve ball. So while in many cases it makes sense to ignore air resistance for projectiles, when calculating how much a ball "curves" you really can't ignore it. | |
| Dec 4, 2022 at 23:31 | comment | added | Chris Christopherson | Okay understood thank you for the help! I suppose the difference is that when learning about projectiles we assume the constant acceleration vector $\mathbf{a} =\langle 0, 0, -g \rangle$ which is truly constant only if there were really NO air resistance. But on earth, since there is air resistance, the curveball will "use the air around it" to make its acceleration no longer constant? | |
| Dec 4, 2022 at 8:02 | comment | added | Señor O | @ChrisChristopherson Perhaps what you mean is, if the "air resistance that opposes velocity" was roughly the same between the curveball and fast ball (thus still allowing the curveball to curve), would the curveball still drop faster? Yes it would. | |
| Dec 4, 2022 at 8:01 | comment | added | Señor O | @ChrisChristopherson You said "assume no air resistance" - but air resistance is precisely what allows a curveball to curve. "Assume no air resistance" is effectively equivalent to "in a vacuum". | |
| Dec 3, 2022 at 21:28 | comment | added | Chris Christopherson | In your response to the first question you say "it is not the case" but you seem to mean it is not the case in a vacuum as you immediately say "If there's no air..." But I am wondering if my intuition is correct even on earth: ON EARTH, will a curveball have a shorter ranger than a fastball given the same $|v_0|$ and $\theta$? | |
| Dec 2, 2022 at 21:44 | history | answered | Señor O | CC BY-SA 4.0 |