Question

Part A

In a major league baseball park, the pitching rubber, where the pitcher stands, is always 60.5 feet from home plate, where the batter stands. In Widget Stadium, the distance from home plate to the wall in center field is 450 feet.

A major league baseball pitcher throws a baseball with a horizontal velocity of 132 feet/second. The batter then hits the ball with a horizontal velocity of 141 feet/second, which results in a home run when the baseball passes over the center field fence. The ball passes over the pitching rubber on its way out of the stadium

Ignoring gravity and the air resistance that would slow the baseball down, create an equation to model the distance that the baseball is from the pitching rubber once it is thrown. (Hint: distance = velocity × time.)

Answer 1

The distance that the baseball is from the pitching rubber, D, can be modeled using the equation:

D = V*t + 60.5

Where V is the horizontal velocity of the baseball in feet per second and t is the time in seconds that the baseball is in the air.

In this scenario, the baseball is thrown by the pitcher with a horizontal velocity of 132 feet/second, and then hit by the batter with a horizontal velocity of 141 feet/second. The baseball passes over the pitching rubber on its way out of the stadium and eventually passes over the center field fence, 450 feet away. So, the equation will be

D = (132+141) * t + 60.5