Final answer:
Impulse in physics is the change in momentum resulting from a force applied over time. To calculate the impulse delivered to a baseball by a bat, one must consider the mass of the baseball and its change in velocity before and after the impact, including the angle of deflection.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student’s question asks about the magnitude of the impulse delivered to a baseball by a bat. Impulse is a concept in physics closely related to momentum, and it is defined as the change in momentum of an object when it is subjected to a force over some time. The momentum of an object is its mass times its velocity (p = mv), and the impulse experienced by an object can also be described by the change in its momentum (Impulse = Δp = m(vf - vi), where m is the mass, vf is the final velocity, and vi is the initial velocity).
To find the impulse delivered by the bat to the baseball, we can calculate the change in momentum of the baseball before and after it was hit. This requires converting the initial and final velocities into a common coordinate system and taking into account the angle at which the ball was hit to calculate its vertical and horizontal components.
Once the initial and final momentum vectors are identified, their difference gives the total impulse delivered to the ball. However, as the specific values for the mass and velocities were given in the question, they can be used to determine the numerical value of the impulse. Moreover, the direction of the impulse is opposite to the change in velocity of the ball since the ball changes direction after being hit.