Broken Baseball Bat

[LoveMyRam]

If a person hit a ball with a baseball bat, and broke the bat, would the ball not go as far as it would have if the bat was not broken through the hit?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

If a person hit a ball with a baseball bat, and broke the bat, would the ball not go as far as it would have if the bat was not broken through the hit?

Trust your intuition more than anything. What have you observed and what do you suspect?

To help answer the question, you need to consider conservation of energy and conservation of momentum. Momentum is retained by the broken bat.

On the energy front, does breaking the bat absorb energy? If it does, what does this do to the amount of energy transferred to the ball? If the the bat breaks (a type of deformation), is the collision more on the elastic or inelastic side?

Answering any of these questions should ultimately answer your question about the batted ball.

 

[coffeebythelake]

If a person hit a ball with a baseball bat, and broke the bat, would the ball not go as far as it would have if the bat was not broken through the hit?

Depends on when the bat broke. At the beginning of swing before the energy was imparted to the ball, or at the end of the swing when the ball is already off and away?

 

[Character]

wont go as far...energy went into breaking the bat...thus, less transferred to the ball..

 

[physics junkie]

In my opinion it is generally a bad idea to speculate loosely because there are a lot of factors at play. You have barely defined the question and not set up any quantitative way to compare the two situations. You didn't even define what you mean by a bat breaking. BRT already stated the main tools you would use to approach such a problem so I won't repeat those but I think it would be impossible to solve this problem unless you simplified it by making some assumptions. If you want people to do all the leg work for you try posting on physicsforums.com.

 

[Zerconia2921]

If a person hit a ball with a baseball bat, and broke the bat, would the ball not go as far as it would have if the bat was not broken through the hit?

I would think since the bat absorbed the hit and shattered the ball would not go as far if the bat was held in place like an elastic collion. I am not sure but thats my 2 cents.