Take Home Essay

In order to determine the time the batter has to decide to swing, we must first find out the average velocity of a pitch. According to Efastball#, the average pitch of a MLB player is 85 miles per hour. After doing the conversion from miles to meters, and the hours to second, the velocity of a pitch is 37.8 meters per second. After obtaining this knowledge, we can plug the velocity into the time = distance/velocity equation. Since the given distance is 18.44 meters, we can plug the distance into the equation. The time would be 0.488 seconds. Then, by subtracting .20 seconds (the reaction time) from 0.488 sec, we have determined the time that a batter has to decide to swing is 0.288 seconds.

In order to find out the other part of this question which is to find how much the ball will drop from pitcher to home plate, we have to assume the height of the pitcher which is 1.82 meters, height of the batter which will also be 1.82 meters, the height of the mound which will be .267 meters, and that the ball will reach the batter at the ideal hitting height which will be at shoulder level depending on height, and finally the distance from mound to home plate which will measure out to be 5.5m. Because there is a large factor of unpredictability associated with the pitch, causes us to have to make many assumptions. By using the equation .5at^2, we can find how much the ball will drop. Plugging in 0.288 seconds in for the amount of time, and -9.8 which is the value for gravity, into the acceleration, we end up with -0.406 meters. This means that