# Can a human cleanly throw a baseball through a pizza box **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 29, 2012, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264 "2012-10-29T22:02:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/141 "2012-11-03T20:09:04Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > And, finally, what is that light-colored powder-like substance that falls out of the pizza box when it hits the ground? It certainly isn’t there before it hits, something comes out, but there is nothing like it in the box when they open it. Maybe it’s supposed to be parmesan cheese? Doesn’t really make sense why it would be loose like that, but that’s all I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/142 "2012-11-03T20:52:24Z")
> [@sich\_hinaufwinden](#): > > The globs of soda that were ejected downward should have continued to move downward with increasing speed from the acceleration due to gravity. There is no reason I can think of why those globs should stop moving downward until they hit the ground. (The soda globs ejected sideways and upward would of course follow their own ballistic trajectories but the downward direction is easiest to think about and evaluate in the video.) > > But that’s not what we see. Instead, we see the soda explode violently outward in all directions for several frames and then, for some mysterious reason, all of the big globs just…freeze…for several frames mind you, until the camera cuts away. It just doesn’t look real to me. > . Since everything in a gravitational field accelerates downward at the same rate, what you see when the bottle explodes should be substantially the same as what you’d see if it exploded in a hypotheticall gravityless field of air. Considerations about ballistic trajectories, while true, are apt to mislead as they are apt to make someone who’s not thinking carefully enough believe the explosion should be downwardly distorted as compared to a gravitationless explosion. (This seems to be what you’re saying you’d expect, though I’m not sure.) I don’t see the explosion hanging in the air. I see it going downwards throughout the time it’s on camera. The movement of the camera makes it a liitle hard to check this at the very end, though. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/143 "2012-11-03T20:56:56Z")
That does seem pretty high to throw a watermelon though. How heavy do you think it is? ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/144 "2012-11-03T21:00:47Z")
It’s a small one though. My wife estimates five lbs max, what do ya’ll think? ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/145 "2012-11-03T21:02:08Z")
But: the parmesan thing is weird I’ll grant that… ---
**Author:** ![Sinisterniik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@Sinisterniik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinisterniik)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/146 "2012-11-03T21:16:30Z")
> [@sich\_hinaufwinden](#): > > Those big globs of soda, ejected in all directions and clearly seen in the video, should essentially behave in a ballistic fashion after the initial acceleration due to the explosion. That is what I was talking about. And what I see in the video looks wrong in a not so subtle kind of way. It is easy to see IMHO when stepping through frame by frame. I can’t dispute anything in your post about opinions or gut feelings obviously, but to my eyes it looks alright. I don’t have any software to slow the video down, but what I see is the release of pressure exploding those globs out into a mist. [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90VyvOhPmA0&list=PL9A7377D11F047397&index=6&feature=plpp_video) may not be a perfect example, but it does show the same cohesion that might hold those globs together until the internal pressure releases. > [@](#): > > Anyhow, that’s what I see and that’s my analysis based on what I remember from my classes. Physics classes? CGI classes? Soda bottle exploding classes? I hope it’s soda bottle exploding classes… > [@](#): > > I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s episode of Mythbusters and hope they address this so we can put it to bed one way or the other. I agree, and since I don’t have cable anymore I’ll need all of you to fill me in! 😃 > [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > Also, anyone else notice that, no matter what gets thrown, it all goes the same height? Water bottle, watermelon, pizza, that donkey thing (I just don’t know how to spell pinata), it doesn’t matter, they all go the same height. Use the stadium lights as a reference. They go _about_ the same height, but not exactly. The watermelon and piñata (press “alt+n”) go noticeably lower than the soda bottle and pizza. They also have varying trajectories; the piñata actually veers off way more to the right than the other 3 objects. I’m sure the most obvious chance to fake the video without CGI involves a baseball launcher off-camera to the right of Cain. If that were true, they’d have a tough time aiming it. If it is CGI, they did an expert job of adjusting speed, height, and trajectory of the four targets (not to mention the spinning of the pizza box.) > [@Tangent](#): > > Maybe it’s supposed to be parmesan cheese? +1 From those little plastic containers they put it in. ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/147 "2012-11-03T21:32:35Z")
I believe it. It reminds me of this Alex Tanney trick shot quarterback video. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/SxDJb03a0yo/hqdefault.jpg "Alex Tanney Trick Shot Quarterback - Better Than Johnny Mac") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxDJb03a0yo) Although his shots aren’t seemingly defying physics, they are amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/148 "2012-11-03T21:40:02Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > That does seem pretty high to throw a watermelon though. How heavy do you think it is? I think it looks like a good size melon, at least 12lbs. The guy throwing it though looks to be in good physical shape, also appears to make an effort, give it quite a heave. Couldn’t find any mention of Matt Cain in Nov 4th listing of mythbusters, at least on the directv menu. It says, > [@](#): > > “Mini Myth Medley” Science, Documentary (2012) Adam Savage. Viewer requested myths include an underwater bike ride, if you can know something :like the back of your hand," and the potty dance. “potty dance”? 😕 ..am not sure I want to bother with this episode. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/149 "2012-11-04T00:20:39Z")
I found this, two clips feat. Matt Cain on Mythbusters with first a fastball pitch, warming up to bust the myth, get this…“whether someone can hurl a needle through 1/8in thick glass” (what the heck?) :rolleyes: > **[‘MythBusters’ Recruits San Francisco Giants Ace for Fragile Task (Video)](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/mythbusters-matt-cain-guest-stars-386192/)** > > Pitcher Matt Cain, fresh off a World Series championship, helps out the team with a myth on Sunday’s episode. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/150 "2012-11-04T00:44:58Z")
> [@the lone cashew](#): > > Couldn’t find any mention of Matt Cain in Nov 4th listing of mythbusters, at least on the directv menu. My menu (Verizon) says > [@](#): > > Tory, Kari, and Grant take on several viewer-requested myths with some help from professional pitcher Matt Cain, while hosts Adam and Jamie put an underwater bike, an idiom about knowledge, and the “potty dance” to the test. ---
**Author:** ![Ostrya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/35a633/32.png) [@Ostrya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ostrya)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/151 "2012-11-04T02:12:00Z")
Okay, hey thanks **Tangent**. ---
**Author:** ![sich\_hinaufwinden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@sich\_hinaufwinden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sich_hinaufwinden)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/152 "2012-11-04T03:21:43Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Since everything in a gravitational field accelerates downward at the same rate, what you see when the bottle explodes should be substantially the same as what you’d see if it exploded in a hypotheticall gravityless field of air. Why do you think that an explosion in the presence of gravity would look the same as one in the absence of gravity. That doesn’t make sense to me. In the absence of gravity all the ejected material would continue to travel in their initial direction at what ever speed they end up after the acceleration due to the explosion. How would that possibly look the same as an explosion where all of the ejected material is subjected to gravity and all of it eventually moves downward until it hits the ground? Think of three people at the edge of a cliff who each simultaneously throw a ball with the same initial speed. But the first one throws downward, the second throws horizontally, and the third throws upward. (This is a simplified analogy to the soda globs ejected in different directions.) Surely you don’t think that all three of those balls will hit the ground below the cliff at the same time just because they all experience the same acceleration due to gravity? In the following basic equation describing vertical motion as a function of time, the first and third terms would be the same for each ball: y=(yi) + (vyi)(t) + (0.5)(a)(t)(t) (sorry I don’t know how to do subscripts/superscripts here) That is to say the initial height and the change in displacement from the acceleration due to gravity would be the same for all three balls. It is the middle term, the initial component of velocity in the y direction that is different for each of those balls, or soda globs as it were. That is what accounts for the reason the balls will not hit the ground at the same time, but rather in the order I described them being thrown. > [@Frylock](#): > > Considerations about ballistic trajectories, while true, are apt to mislead as they are apt to make someone who’s not thinking carefully enough believe the explosion should be downwardly distorted as compared to a gravitationless explosion. (This seems to be what you’re saying you’d expect, though I’m not sure.) If what I described above is what you mean by an explosion in the presence of gravity being ‘‘distorted’’ downward, then yes that is what I would expect to see. The reason I focused on the soda ejected downward is because that to me is where it is easiest to see that they seem to freeze after the initial explosion. I think those globs should have continued downward much quicker than they do. And if the downward ejected soda globs were moving faster than their terminal velocity after the explosion, sure they would slow down to that, but they should still be moving IMHO much faster than what is seen in the video. And I believe I am thinking about this carefully enough. ---
**Author:** ![sich\_hinaufwinden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@sich\_hinaufwinden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sich_hinaufwinden)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/153 "2012-11-04T03:36:22Z")
> [@Sinisterniik](#): > > I don’t have any software to slow the video down… I’m not using any special software - I’m simply looking at the link given in the OP using IE9. When the video is paused, the left/right cursor arrows on my keyboard will step frame by frame in each direction - something I happened to accidentally discover watching this video as it turns out. I have no idea about other browsers. > [@Sinisterniik](#): > > Physics classes? CGI classes? Soda bottle exploding classes? I hope it’s soda bottle exploding classes… Umm…that was merely a nod to your previous comment about what you said you remember from highschool physics regarding how a thrown object should behave. I prefer not to reveal much personal identifying info, but suffice to say I’m drawing on an education that extends sufficiently beyond highschool physics that I think I can hold my own in a discussion of this nature at this level of analysis. I don’t claim to be any kind of expert on anything. If it’s really important to you, I suppose I could PM what my degree is and where I got it but it’s not likely to impress. ---
**Author:** ![Sinisterniik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@Sinisterniik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinisterniik)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/154 "2012-11-04T06:02:34Z")
> [@sich\_hinaufwinden](#): > > I’m not using any special software - I’m simply looking at the link given in the OP using IE9. Well, if this thread has lead me anything, it’s how to watch Youtube videos frame by frame. I ended up having to download the video and use my Quicktime player, but now I’m even more confused by your previous statements. Slowed down, I definitely see the “globs” moving downward at the expected rate of speed. They certainly don’t “hang there” in my eyes. Funny how two of us can see the same thing and at the same time not… > [@](#): > > Umm…that was merely a nod to your previous comment about what you said you remember from highschool physics regarding how a thrown object should behave. OK, no worries. I thought that maybe you had some level of expertise I did not. No need to get into personal details on the interwebs. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Sinisterniik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@Sinisterniik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinisterniik)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/155 "2012-11-04T06:37:21Z")
[Why](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_OyHUqIIOU&t=4m12s) [can’t](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzdfj-xzXAg&t=0m30s) [I](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX5Xc-3H2wM&t=2m34s) [stop](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfTfmgfP3tY&t=0m15s) [watching](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMy2_qNO2Y0&t=3m17s) [things](http://vimeo.com/17646815) [exploding](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK8dsAeMmPk&t=1m17s) [other](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdn8gQkHyHI&t=1m14s) [things?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3MwoaYrKrM&t=1m23s) ---
**Author:** ![brazil84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@brazil84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brazil84)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/156 "2012-11-04T12:54:54Z")
FWIW my vote is for fake. As other people said, the hole looks too clean; the pizza (and box trajectory) too undisturbed. Also they clearly did a lot of takes – note how the day suddenly goes from overcast to sunny at 1:23. Last, it seems that you hear the impact of the ball hitting the object at the exact moment the ball hits the object. This doesn’t seem very believable to me. Light travels a lot faster than sound and this effect is noticeable even at 50 feet away. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/157 "2012-11-04T13:25:37Z")
> [@sich\_hinaufwinden](#): > > Why do you think that an explosion in the presence of gravity would look the same as one in the absence of gravity. That doesn’t make sense to me. I explained why. To reexplain in other words, it’s because objects in freefall within a gravitational field behave, relative to each other, exactly as though they were not in that gravitational field. If you’re in a box falling through the air, it feels to you exactly as though you’re floating in a space with no gravity. Similarly, if you are a bottle exploding within a gravitational field, you feel exactly as though you were a bottle exploding in outer space with no gravity field. As I said, the explosion looks exactly the same in both cases. In one case, the explosion as a whole moves downward, in the other case it doesn’t–but in itself, abstracted from its acceleration toward Earth, the explosion will look exactly the same as one taking place outside Earth’s gravitational field. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/158 "2012-11-04T13:33:04Z")
Take your balls-thrown-off-a-cliff sceanario. Of course they don’t hit the ground at the same time. But my point is more relevant to the following fact: until one of them hits the ground, forgetting about aerodynamic effects, the positions of the balls relative to each other will be exactly the same as they would have been had they been thrown in a gravitationless space instead. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/159 "2012-11-04T13:58:52Z")
My vote is “real”, although I don’t have any great track record regarding such things. The only result that surprised me was the pizza box (well, that and the initial surprise at the pitcher’s accuracy). Balanced against that counter-intuitive result were: –Kari and Tory’s giddiness seemed completely natural. –The quick cuts of the kids seemed natural. –The notion that Mythbusters would (even indirectly) support a pizza company seems incredibly unlikely. I wouldn’t be astounded if it was fake --you can’t trust your senses too much in this universe-- but if I had to wager money, I’d bet on non-fake. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264/160 "2012-11-04T15:50:51Z")
> [@brazil84](#): > > Light travels a lot faster than sound and this effect is noticeable even at 50 feet away. It’s not noticeable at 50 feet. It only takes 0.04 seconds for sound to travel that far. That’s just a little more than one frame of video. [Here’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGCYZDrxalg) Barry Bonds shot from what I assume to be 50 feet or more. I can’t see any difference even in slow motion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-human-cleanly-throw-a-baseball-through-a-pizza-box/639264.md?page=9)