See subject. I tried to drop a hint in a general way in the current Coriolis thread, but got no nibbles, mixed metaphorically speaking. The topic was raised almost simultaneously in the current quantum physics dispute thread–not by me–and was cited only as an example of something so trivial that the solving of which was not worth considering, because its solution will have so little effect.
Trivial? :eek: Well, in GQ I notice that bridging the Pacific is currently under discussion. And, one of my favorite querys/solutions was the degree to which a light beam would be deflected by my mass. Another was how much would my weight increase while sunning myself on the beach from inertial mass of sunlight. If I recall, answers were given for conditions of walking and of lying down. It was all hands on deck for those.
So, in that same spirit, I post this as a separate query. I’ve done some research. It’s just I can’t do the trig for the math in the Wiki Coriolis entry.
Take Oct. 18, 2012, when the Tigers completed their sweep of the Yankees, whose .188 batting average is the lowest in post season history for any team playing seven games or more [cite].
Tigers’ winning pitcher was Max Scherzer.
His average velocity for a fastball in 2012 was 151.6 kph [cite].
He’s 1.9 m tall.
The height of the mound is 26.7 cm.
Distance from mound to plate is 18.4 m.
He throws right.
The coordinates of Comerica Park are 42°20’21"N, 83°2’55"W.
Let’s treat the ball’s path as a straight line so that we can estimate things more easily. The relevant parameters are the ball’s speed, its direction, the distance to the plate, and the latitude of the stadium. If I’ve done my math correctly, the ball will experience a horizontal acceleration of 4.5 mm/s[sup]2[/sup] to the pitcher’s right, and 1.9 mm/s[sup]2[/sup] downwards due to the Coriolis force. During the approximately 0.43 seconds it takes the ball to get to the plate, these accelerations would cause the ball to be deflected about 0.4 millimetres to the pitcher’s right and 0.2 millimetres downwards.
I doubt that such an effect would be noticeable among all the other effects on the ball (gravity, wind, and of course the ever-popular Magnus effect.) So in my estimation, Yankees fans will have to find another straw to grasp at.
Aside to Colibri: I never would have found this post if it was in the Game Room. I only saw it because the “moved” tag was still visible in the GQ thread listing.