corkedbatdugout.com says in their physics section that velocity is a bigger factor than mass...is that true?

Question

In using a corked bat ofcourse...kind of makes sense i guess

Answer 1

Yep, velocity is king.

Without getting too technical, lets say you can choose between doubling the mass of the bat, or doubling the velocity.

The formula for the kinetic energy of the bat (1/2mv^2) shows that by doubling the mass of the bat, you'd double the kinetic energy, but by doubling the velocity, you'd quadruple the kinetic energy.

I guess there comes a limit to how fast you can swing a bat, and how heavy a bat you can swing too, but if you go with the fastest you can swing, and the heaviest bat you can swing that at, you'll be hitting as hard as you can. And work on your speed!

Answer 2

Their web site has it wrong.

The equation for kinetic energy is correct, but not all of that energy is committed to propelling the baseball. An easy example is that some of that kinetic energy is converted into sound.

The only thing that matters in the motion of the baseball is the amount of momentum transfered, which uses the equation: p =mv. Therefore, velocity and mass are equal factors in the motion of the ball.

What corking a bat does do is to increase the chance of making good contact with the ball in the first place. The mass is not only reduced, but the center of mass is moved towards the bat handle. This reduces the bat's moment of inertia, allowing the batter to increase his bat speed.

The movement in the center of mass probably does increase the bat speed beyond the amount that the mass is decreased, so there is a positive trade off. The bat's velocity increases more than the mass is decreased.

It's still outweighed by the other effects of a lighter bat. Namely, an increased bat speed gives the batter a fraction of a second longer to react to the pitch and better bat control. Hitting the ball with the bat's sweet spot to get a greater portion of the bat's momentum transferred to the ball has a lot more impact than the small increase in the total amount of momentum available to be transferred.

Corked bats are illegal to use in a game, so I don't think there would be much advantage to actually buying one of their bats.

Answer 3

The kinetic energy of the bat is equal to (1/2)mass*velocity^2.

You can see from the exponent on the velocity and the one half in front of the mass that velocity counts for a lot more than mass when determining the energy of motion.

Answer 4

1/2 mv^2 for kinetic energy. the 1/2 is for the product of mass and the square of velocity so don't worry about that when thinking about your answer. increasing velocity will give you a larger pay off than increasing the mass a proportional amount. the cork in your bat is a different story.