 your results
Sent in by:
Shing Ying
Batter up! Find the sweet spot and hit a homer!
- wooden baseball bat
- hammer
- sticker or piece of masking tape
- Baseball players try to hit a baseball on the sweet spot of the bat, because it can make the ball go really far.
- To find the sweet spot on your baseball bat, hold the bat loosely between your thumb and fingers so that it is hanging down toward the ground.
- Have a friend hit the bat with a hammer every inch or so starting from the middle and working her way down the bat.
- If you're holding the bat, you will feel vibrations traveling up the bat to your fingers when the hammer hits the bat.
- When the hammer gets to the sweet spot, you won't feel vibrations. Does the hammer make a different sound when it gets there? Mark the sweet spot with a sticker or a piece of tape.
Ready for the science scoop? When you hit the bat with the hammer, it pushes the bat sideways a little, but it also makes the bat bend. The bat bends so little that you can't see it. But it bends and unbends really fast - so fast that you can feel it all the way up to your hand. If you hit the bat at the sweet spot, the hammer still pushes the bat sideways a little bit, but the bat doesn't bend much, so you don't feel any vibrations in your hand. Because you don't waste any energy on vibrations, you can transfer more energy to the ball. Does an aluminum bat have a sweet spot too? How 'bout a plastic one? A broom handle? Try it out, and be sure to write and tell us what you found.
Jamie, age 7 of Fremont, CA wrote:
My dad's freind gave me a bat and I used that. My sister helped and I felt the vibration. But when I hit the bat on the wall I didn't feel it.
Jillian, age 11 wrote:
I tried this and I found the sweet spot, now I rock in baseball!!
Bryan, age 11 of Berwick, PA wrote:
I tested both a wood and an aluminum bat and found both have a sweet spot
Emily, age 13 of Braintree, MA wrote:
When my friend hit the sweet spot, there wasn't any vibrations. I tought it was pretty interesting.
Andrew, age 10 of Lima, OH wrote:
I taped a alumnum bat and it had a sweet spot about 3 inches form the bottom! Wow!
David, age 12 of Pflugerville, TX wrote:
In the aluminum bat the sweet spot was mostly in the same area as the wooden bat.
Zak, age 11 of Monroe, CT wrote:
I found that the sweet spot on an aluminum bat is closer to the handle.
Lauren of Traverse City, MI wrote:
When I found the sweet spot on my bat during one of my softball games I hit a over the fence home run!
Panchito, age 10 of Zapata, TX wrote:
It had worked perfect I didn't feel a vibration. I hope that it works for everyone.
Dermont, age 11 of Chicago, IL wrote:
I found out you find the sweet spot higher.
Brittany, age 9 of New Holland, PA wrote:
When my hammer hit the sweet spot I did not feel any vibrations, it felt like I was going to hit a home run.
Annika, age 9 of S. Hackensack, NJ wrote:
When I tried it I found my sweet spot on my second try. It was almost at the bottom. Then I put a sticker on it and payed with my best friends and my cousins plus my uncle and when I hit my sweet spot it worked. First my cousin hit the sweet spot and then I did also my other cousins and friends and uncle hit it. We had so much fun!! Also I got a good excersise!!
Amanda of Pittsfield, ME wrote:
It vibrated on the first tap.
Mark, age 9 of Delmar, CA wrote:
I figured out that on a aluminum bat you find the sweet spot higher.
Tina, age 10 of Cincinnati wrote:
Im a girl who loves to play baseball and my hit was not realy what should suspect it to be. So I tryed the ZOOMsci and it worked great!
Ella, age 9 of Frankfort, KY wrote:
I found out that aluminum bat has a sweet spot to!!
Cheyenne, age 11 of Port Orange, FL wrote:
A metal bat does have a sweet spot. It is in the same spot as the sweet spot on a wooden bat.
Anthony, age 9 of Fresno, CA wrote:
Whan I tryed doing it with a aluminum bat it worked. My bat is 28 in long and the sweet spot was 5 in away from the end of the bat, My other one is 31 in long and it was 6 in away from the end of the bat.
Lora, age 11 of Concord, NC wrote:
When I did it I fond out that the sweet spot on a metal bat is the in the same spot as a wooden bat. And a metal bat does have a sweet spot.
Beth, age 12 of Lombard, IL wrote:
The expiriment that was shown was when shing ying hit a bat with a hammer to find its sweet spot. Well I did that expiriment and I tryed with a metal bat and the sweet spot was 6 inchs from the tip of the bat.
Tabitha, age 11 of Kennesaw, GA wrote:
When I hit the bat with a hammer in the middle, I didn't feel as much vibration as I did when I hit it on other spots on the bat. Zoom rocks!
Anna, age 9 of Lake Orion, MI wrote:
Aluminum bats have sweet spots to. It makes a loud noise so be where!
Bethany, age 12 of Spicer, MN wrote:
It worked when I did it with a wooden bat, but not when I used an aluminum bat. I think it didn't work becuse aluminum doesn't bend as much as wood.
|
