Baseball Bat Debate: Wood Vs. Aluminum By: Christopher Merone, Michael Indelicato, and Richard Centra

Hypothesis: We, as a group, hypothesized that the Aluminum baseball bat will be more advantageous in the game of baseball rather than a wooden baseball bat.

Compare and Contrast: Wooden Bat and an Aluminum Bat: Aluminum: Hollow core Doesn’t break, might dent. Easier to swing Less sting on player’s hands when contact is made. Bat weight is evenly distributed. Wood: Plastic core Will break, which affects the rate of the game. Harder to swing. More maintenance such as: applying pine tar or tape in order for the player to get a clean grip. More sting. Top heavy.

Diagram referring to last slide:

 Where the ball usually landed after we hit with the wooden baseball bat. (outfield grass line)  Where the ball usually landed after we hit with an aluminum bat. (throughout the mid- outfield to deep outfield) Starting point  Key: Where baseballs landed after using the bats.

Methods and Observations:  We used trial and error and marked the “sweet spots” of the bat tape in order to see where the ball landed throughout the baseball bat.  You may be wondering what the “sweet spot” on the ball really is: The spot on the bat that produces the least amount of sting on the player’s hands, when contact is made.  Besides testing which bat would be more advantageous, we tested to see if hitting the ball on the “sweet spots,” would affect the rate at which the ball travels.  Trampoline affect: When a baseball makes contact with an aluminum bat, the bat compresses like a spring at the point of contact. The baseball is not compressed and does not lose energy to friction forces. The trampoline effect returns the energy back to the ball.

 DISTANCE NOT ON SWEET SPOT: Chris 12345Average Wood115 ft 125 ft 114 ft 123 ft 112 ft ft Aluminum130 ft 135 ft 132 ft 139 ft 140 ft ft Michael 12345Average Wood110 ft 112 ft 115 ft 119 ft 110 ft ft Aluminum132 ft 134 ft 129 ft 136 ft 130 ft ft RJ 12345Average Wood111 ft 116 ft 118 ft 117 ft 122 ft ft Aluminum136 ft 135 ft 128 ft 134 ft 135 ft ft

DISTANCE OF BUNTING: Chris 12345Average Wood2 ft 7 in2 ft 4 in3 ft 0 in2 ft 9 in2 ft 11 in2 ft 7 in Aluminum4 ft 2 in3 ft 11 in4 ft 5 in4 ft 7 in4 ft 5 in4 ft 3 in Michael 12345Average Wood2 ft 3 in2 ft 5 in 2 ft 9 in3 ft 0 in2 ft 6 in Aluminum4 ft 0 in4 ft 4 in3 ft 10 in4 ft 3 in4 ft 6 in4 ft 1 in RJ 12345Average Wood2 ft 8 in2 ft 6 in2 ft 3 in2 ft 4 in3 ft 2 in2 ft 6 in Aluminum4 ft 2 in4 ft 7 in3 ft 11 in4 ft 7 in4 ft 3 in

Chris12345Averag e Wood0.80s0.83s0.77s0.81s0.82s0.806s Aluminum0.62s0.61s0.66s0.65s0.60s0.628s Michael 12345Averag e Wood0.84s0.80s0.85s0.82s0.84s0.83s Aluminum0.63s0.65s0.62s0.61s0.64s0.63s RJ 12345Average Wood0.82s0.85s 0.86s0.87s0.85s Aluminum0.61s0.64s0.65s0.63s0.70s0.646s Time of swings

Conclusion:  After much testing and note taking, we have proven our hypothesis to be correct, that an aluminum baseball bat, is in fact, more advantageous.  We enjoyed performing our experiment, and we hope this project was a help to many player’s who want to fulfill their task of playing baseball, on the highest of levels.

Any Questions?

Baseball Bat Debate: If there are not any more questions: Thank-you for your time! Christopher Merone, Michael Indelicato, and Richard Centra