Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
The unpredictability of knuckleballs
The stitches on the ball create the air turbulence
I’ve always thought that when a pitcher throws a curve ball, the ball curves because of the direction of the spin placed on it. Why, then, does a knuckleball move so unpredictably, when a knuckleball has little or no spin on it? It’s almost baseball season, and I need an answer soon so I can enjoy the games without these nagging questions. — Padre Fanatic, University City
It seems to me any Padre fanatic would have more nagging questions than this. A whole roster full of nagging questions. The mysteries of the knuckleball are less troublesome. Every pitched ball curves or zigzags because of unequal areas of air turbulence around it. A curve ball, thrown with a tight, consistent spin, will follow a path that curves away from air turbulence created by the side of the ball spinning into (that is, in the direction opposite to) the onrushing air. A knuckleball is thrown, almost pushed, stiff-wristed, from between the fingertips, like squirting a grape out of its skin. The idea is to have the slowest rotation possible on the ball. The stitches on the ball create the air turbulence that governs how the knuckleball behaves. The ball presents a slightly different profile of stitches as it turns very slowly. Each new profile creates a new pattern of turbulence. Wind tunnel tests have shown that given the sinuous pattern of stitches on a baseball, the ideal knuckleball should make only a quarter turn between the mound and the plate to maximize the effect of the stitches and make the ball dance as unpredictably as the Padres’ upcoming season.
Here's something you might be interested in.
The unpredictability of knuckleballs
The stitches on the ball create the air turbulence
The unpredictability of knuckleballs
The stitches on the ball create the air turbulence
I’ve always thought that when a pitcher throws a curve ball, the ball curves because of the direction of the spin placed on it. Why, then, does a knuckleball move so unpredictably, when a knuckleball has little or no spin on it? It’s almost baseball season, and I need an answer soon so I can enjoy the games without these nagging questions. — Padre Fanatic, University City
It seems to me any Padre fanatic would have more nagging questions than this. A whole roster full of nagging questions. The mysteries of the knuckleball are less troublesome. Every pitched ball curves or zigzags because of unequal areas of air turbulence around it. A curve ball, thrown with a tight, consistent spin, will follow a path that curves away from air turbulence created by the side of the ball spinning into (that is, in the direction opposite to) the onrushing air. A knuckleball is thrown, almost pushed, stiff-wristed, from between the fingertips, like squirting a grape out of its skin. The idea is to have the slowest rotation possible on the ball. The stitches on the ball create the air turbulence that governs how the knuckleball behaves. The ball presents a slightly different profile of stitches as it turns very slowly. Each new profile creates a new pattern of turbulence. Wind tunnel tests have shown that given the sinuous pattern of stitches on a baseball, the ideal knuckleball should make only a quarter turn between the mound and the plate to maximize the effect of the stitches and make the ball dance as unpredictably as the Padres’ upcoming season.
Comments