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Baseball 3
Wed Jun 02, 2004
Listen in RealAudio 
This is the bottom of the ninth in our interview with Robert Adair, author of the book,
"The Physics of Baseball." Today the talk turns from hitters to pitchers.
BY: The curve ball and the knuckleball: are those more effective being thrown into the
wind?
RA: They’re a little more effective. If you throw the knuckleball right (laughs), it behaves
in a way that’s impossible to hit no matter where the winds.
BY: But throwing into the wind—would that have a more positive effect on a curve ball?
RA: Yeah. It’ll break a little more. The force on the ball is proportional, roughly
speaking, both to the speed of the ball and to the rate of spin. Now, if the ball goes
faster, it takes less time to get there, and so it actually has less time to curve. But if the
increase in force is because the air’s moving, then the ball even takes a little longer to
get there, and so it both curves more because it’s slowed down slightly, and curves
more because there’s more transverse force.
BY: When you watch a game, are you thinking physics, or do you just sit back and
enjoy?
RA: (Laughs) I’m afraid I’ve been a little spoiled by the physics. I certainly spend more
time thinking about the physics of it than… let’s say… the ordinary person.
BY: So you get double the enjoyment when you go to the ballpark.
RA: (Laughs) I enjoy it. It’s nice to think about the game. Most serious fans do. The
game is still less physics, let’s say, than athleticism. I think the thing I still like to see
more than anything else is a fast double play, and there’s not much physics in that.
BY: Thank you greatly for taking the time to talk with us.
RA: Well, it’s been fun, and thank you for thinking of me.
That was Robert K. Adair, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Physics at Yale University.
The Weather Notebook is brought to you by Subaru and the National Science
Foundation.
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