Baseball Flight
Trajectories A course titled "Baseball Flight Trajectories" was offered
Spring Semester 2003 by Professor Ivan Marusic. The course was motivated by a
Star Tribune (see full story article at:http://www.startribune.com/stories/509/4008558.html
or 
Star Tribune Article) investigation into the
alleged effect the Metrodome ventilation fan duct flows can have on the
distance a baseball can travel. Eleven students were accepted in the course,
including 5 seniors and 6 juniors. The students were required to design and
build a baseball launching device capable of launching a baseball a distance of
over 500ft with high repeatability. Two devices were built including a
trebuchet and an air-pressurized canon. The air-canon proved to be superior,
and was used on two days of testing in the Metrodome. Amongst other things, the
students also conducted wind tunnel experiments to parameterize the duct flow
characteristics, and wrote computer programs to simulate the flight of
baseballs interacting with turbulent jet flows
See also Undergraduate Student, Ryan Nordell Interview on Baseball Class Project With WCCO Radio -- MP3 File(Play time 5.54 minutes)
Last Modified: 2007-07-24 at 10:10:53 -- this is in International Standard Date and Time Notation