Yer outta here!: Physics play a big role in the National Pastime.
Courtesy Mark RyanWith the baseball play-offs and World Series coming up, I’m sure lots of folks out there (especially in Chicago and not so much in Minnesota) are agonizing over the question: What is more effective, sliding into base head-first or feet-first?
Well, as usual, science has solved the problem. Using physics and mathematics, David A. Peters, an engineer from Washington University in St. Louis, has figured out which of the two ways is more advantageous. Peters is a huge baseball fan, and a mechanical engineer to boot. He explains it this way:
"There's momentum— mass of the body times how fast the player is moving. There's angular momentum (mass movement of inertia times the rotational rate). If it's feet-first and you're starting to slide, your feet are going out from you and you're rotating clockwise; if it's head-first, as your hands go down, you're rotating counterclockwise. On top of this is Newton's Law: Force is mass times acceleration. Then moments of inertia times your angular acceleration."
So which method gives ballplayers a better chance of making it safely to the bag? Center of gravity seems to be the key.
"It turns out your center of gravity is where the momentum is. This is found half way from the tips of your fingers to the tips of your toes. In the headfirst slide, the center of gravity is lower than halfway between your feet and hands, so your feet don't get there as fast. It's faster head-first."
Regardless of the science, Dr. Peters figures preference for one way or the other among ballplayers is about 50/50. And the whole argument goes out the window when talking about first base. Usually, players are much better off running through first rather than sliding into it at all.
"Mathematically, you might think there's an advantage, but leaving your feet is actually a detriment because you're no longer pulsing (pumping your legs) and you start to decelerate," he says. "When you're running, your get your feet out in front of the center of gravity, so you're getting maybe three or four steps of an advantage."
Dr. Peters was also involved in a previous baseball study covered by the Buzz back in July.
SOURCE
Washington University story
What I do know for sure about sliding into bases comes from the old Twins manager Tom Kelly. He hated players sliding headfirst into a base as he felt it led to more injuries in the hands, arms and shoulders that could end up sidelining a player for weeks or months. On his postgame radio shows, he almost always made it a point to be critical of any of his player who slid headfirst into a base in that particular game.
Science Buzz is supported by the National Science Foundation.
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