# What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 10, 2012, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774 "2012-07-10T09:07:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/21 "2012-07-12T01:10:26Z")
All I can imagine is being in the stands, watching the pitcher wind up for the Warp Ball, then a blur of red mist, dirt and a mushroom cloud forming over home plate; the concussion hits the bleachers, then… the screaming and the pandemonium. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/22 "2012-07-12T01:38:17Z")
Uh huh. I just read the full article. I see the screaming and the pandemonium would be many miles away from Ground Zero. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/23 "2012-07-12T01:55:51Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Uh huh. I just read the full article. I see the screaming and the pandemonium would be many miles away from Ground Zero. Pay per view? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/24 "2012-07-12T02:02:55Z")
Pandemonium? Hell, Pablo “The Panda” Sandoval would try to swing at it, even if it was way outside. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/25 "2012-07-12T02:13:45Z")
> [@President\_Johnny\_Gentle](#): > > I must disagree. The dirt circle will obviously be travelling with the batter, so he won’t be leaving it. Is a dirt circle that is no longer comprised of dirt and is not in the shape of a circle a dirt circle? ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/26 "2012-07-12T02:14:06Z")
So basically, the baseball become a hydrogen bomb\*; I never would have thought that would happen. - Wolfram Alpha says [2.5 megatons](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%28145+grams+times+%28%280.9+times+the+speed+of+light%29+squared%29%29+divided+by+1+megaton+of+TNT) for a [145 g baseball](http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question9763.html). Plus additional energy released from fusion. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/27 "2012-07-12T02:17:51Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Pandemonium? Hell, Pablo “The Panda” Sandoval would try to swing at it, even if it was way outside. But Yogi Berra would actually hit it. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/28 "2012-07-12T03:55:13Z")
And Casey would still strike out. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/29 "2012-07-12T07:10:46Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Pandemonium? Hell, Pablo “The Panda” Sandoval would try to swing at it, even if it was way outside. Pandamonium. Sounds like a new heavy element to be named upon the fusion of him and his bat. Decays in nanoseconds. ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/30 "2012-07-12T13:31:21Z")
Great thread. So, how fast do you need to throw the pitch to merely detonate the bat and batter, while leaving the pitcher (mostly) intact? At those speeds, we’d be talking kinetic energy rather than fusion. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/31 "2012-07-12T15:33:34Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > Great thread. So, how fast do you need to throw the pitch to merely detonate the bat and batter, while leaving the pitcher (mostly) intact? At those speeds, we’d be talking kinetic energy rather than fusion. The speed of a typical meteor impact aught to do the trick; about 4 or 5 miles a second. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/32 "2012-07-12T15:55:10Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > But Yogi Berra would actually hit it. But The Babe would point out into the stands to show where his ashes would land. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/33 "2012-07-12T17:26:36Z")
Juuuuuust a bit outside… ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/34 "2012-07-12T21:01:21Z")
> [@Michael63129](#): > > So basically, the baseball become a hydrogen bomb\*; I never would have thought that would happen. > > - Wolfram Alpha says [2.5 megatons](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%28145+grams+times+%28%280.9+times+the+speed+of+light%29+squared%29%29+divided+by+1+megaton+of+TNT) for a [145 g baseball](http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question9763.html). Plus additional energy released from fusion. You’re missing the 0.5. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/35 "2012-07-13T01:33:45Z")
Am I right in guessing that if the game was being played in a vacuum–everyone has p-suits on, say–nothing would happen until the ball hit the bat? ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/36 "2012-07-13T06:37:30Z")
This is one of the many reasons I love XKCD. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/37 "2012-07-14T02:50:59Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Something similar happened in one of Isaac Asimov’s short stories, except that it was a billiard ball. As I remember the story, it made a neat hole in the chest of the person who was in its way. That’s a classic story, nice reference. I think it had to do with sending the ball on a time travel experiment and when it rematerialized the Earth was now going the other direction in its orbit, or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/38 "2012-07-14T03:04:32Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > That’s a classic story, nice reference. I think it had to do with sending the ball on a time travel experiment and when it rematerialized the Earth was now going the other direction in its orbit, or something like that. As I remember it, it was a bet between a theoretical physicist and an engineer about what would happen if a billiard ball was turned to pure energy or something. The engineer engineered (heh) the whole thing such that the theoretical physicist would bet a certain way and be right, but would ignore a side effect of the bet (i.e., that the billiard ball would leave the pure-energy-transformation field at the speed of light) and be murdered thereby. The two dudes hated one another, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/39 "2012-07-14T03:11:06Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > That’s a classic story, nice reference. I think it had to do with sending the ball on a time travel experiment and when it rematerialized the Earth was now going the other direction in its orbit, or something like that. It was an anti-gravity device. [The Billiard Ball](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Billiard_Ball) Found the story [online.](http://www.e-reading.org.ua/chapter.php/82002/30/Azimov_-_Asimovs_Mysteries.html) ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2012, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774/40 "2012-07-14T12:38:54Z")
[nitpick]There is a glaring error in either the story or the illustration. > [@](#): > > **It hits the bat first** The illustration does not show the batter in a bunt stance, which, with the exception of a really wild pitch, would be the only way for the ball to hit the bat.[/nitpick] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-you-tried-to-hit-a-baseball-pitched-at-90-the-speed-of-light/627774.md?page=3)