Blog 2: Setting

A few days ago I was going through some photos of me and my sister playing volleyball. I noticed that when my sister sets the ball it is a projectile. This picture was taken during one of my sister's games and during this set she was setting the outside hitter. If I had known the exact initial velocity, the time it took for the hitter to hit the ball after she set it, and at what angle she had set the ball, I could figure out the distance it traveled from her hand and the final velocity. Also, assuming that I knew those variable, I could also deduce the vertical velocity and the x velocity that would have constant except for a slight decrease in speed due to air resistance.

I was going through some old photos when i noticed that baseball has a lot to do physics if the pitcher's mound is the origin then

the distance and displacement of a ball after it is pitched are different. If the pitch is swung on and missed, the catcher will throw it back to the pitcher and the displacement will be 0 feet. However, the distance will not be 0 feet because the distance between the pitcher and home plate is 35 feet so the total distance would be around 70 feet. If the batter hits the ball past the pitcher's mound the displacement would be negative but eventually the players would throw the ball back to the pitcher so at the end of a play when the ball is thrown back to the pitcher the displacement is always 0, while the distance varies.