Question

A curve ball is a type of pitch in which the baseball spins on its axis as it heads for home plate. if a curve ball is thrown at 35.6 m/s (80 mph ) with a spin rate of 29 rev/s , how many revolutions does it complete before reaching home plate? assume that home plate is 18.3 m (60 ft) from the pitching mound and that the baseball travels at a constant velocity.

Answer 1

The ball travels 18.3 m at a speed of 35.6 m/s.
How long does the trip take ?
time = (distance)/(speed) = (18.3 m) / (35.6 m/s) = 0.514 second

All during the trip, the ball is spinning at the rate of 29 rev/second.

Spinning at 29 rev/s for 0.514 sec, it completes 14.91 revolutions,
before stopping with a THUNK in the pocket of the catcher's mitt.