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Force exerted on your hand?
If you catch a baseball with your bare hand, will the force exerted on you hand by the ball be reduced if you pull your arm back during the catch?
Relate your answer to specific laws of physics
Don't the forces have to equal no metter what to come to a stop??
2 Answers
- Anonymous1 decade agoFavorite Answer
Yes - the trick is to get your hand moving backwrds at the same speed of the ball - but of course if the ball is travelling very fast all you will do is reduce the relative velocity of the ball to the hand.
So if ball is travelling at 15m/s and you can move your hand at 5m/s then the relative velocity of the ball to the hand is now only 10 m/s. The initial change in momentum of the ball is therefore reduced . Force = rate of change of momentum; so initial force on the hand is also reduced ,
- 1 decade ago
well theoretically yes, but in reality, the average speed of a ball getting pitched in major league baseball is around 91 mph. so unless you can move back quickly and very fast, you'd still get hurt. the speed of the ball being pitched will never be constant unless you are in a vacuum where gravity, air resistance and other technicalities apply. so yes, it is possible to reduce the "hurt factor" but not by much.
Source(s): my knowledge of physics =)
