Is it possible to throw a curve ball while standing on the moon? -not counting the curve of the orbit that the ball will be destined.
Afraid not. A curveball relies upon the spin of the ball working against the air in order to make the ball “curve”. No air, no curve.
The simple answer is no. A curve ball curves because of the aerodynamics of the spinning ball as it passes through the air. No air, no aerodynamics, no curve.
But you might be able to take advantage of another force to change the ball’s path; gyroscopic precession. If you could throw a ball with a certain spin (say, as the ball travels directly away from you, you see it spin rapidly clockwise), as gravity acts to pull the ball down, the precession will make it curve (clockwise spin would curve it to the left, I think). It’s been a few years since my Physics classes, if anyone else wants to chime in, please do. And even if my theory is sound, I’m not sure a person could put enough spin on the ball to be noticable.
Well, I did ask my chemistry teacher some 10 years ago and I think he said that there is nitrogen present in outer space and the ball would eventually intercept enough nitrogen atoms? to make it curve. Unless I heard him wrong, that just doesn’t sound right.
You could have an electrically charged baseball and throw it through a magnetic field to get a curveball.
For all practical purposes, assuming a standard baseball and two people within a normal distance of each other, no.
It is much harder to throw a curveball (or presumably any kind of breaking ball) at high altitude as well. Just as the Colorado Rockies pitching staff.
See curveball artist Darryl Kile’s recent stats:
97 Houston 19-7 2.57 ERA
98 Colorado 13-17 5.20
99 Colorado 8-13 6.61
00 St. Louis 20-9 3.91
He didn’t forgot how to pitch for two years, he simply couldn’t get much break on his curves when he pitched in Denver.
I’m really not sure that a curve ball on the moon would not be possible just due to the minimal atmospheric effects. Are there any corolis effects? How about a bad slice?
No. It’s true that there are a few atoms here and there in space, but not enough to be substantial. Even nebulae are practically empty space (it would appear so if you were there).
The coriolis effect on the moon would be less than that of the Earth (it rotates much slower…one moon-day is about 28 or 29 Earth-days whereas Earth rotates once in 24 hours).
Certainly not enough to curve a baseball thrown 100 ft away (or a few hundered feet given the lower gravity).
hijack
Fiddlesticks said:
See curveball artist Darryl Kile’s recent stats:
97 Houston 19-7 2.57 ERA
98 Colorado 13-17 5.20
99 Colorado 8-13 6.61
00 St. Louis 20-9 3.91
He didn’t forgot how to pitch for two years, he simply couldn’t get much break on his curves when he pitched in Denver.
Well, sort of. In 1999, Darryl Kile was 3-10 with a 5.89 ERA in his 17 starts away from Coors Field. Apparently he did forget how to pitch that year, though you could make an argument that playing for Colorado affected him psychologically even when he was on the road. I don’t have his splits for 1998.
That said, I agree that the thin air of Coors Field makes it harder to throw breaking balls generally.
-Fezzik