slowpitch ball vs fastpitch ball

[90210]

Interesting tidbit. My DD conducted an experiment for her science project: which ball would go further, 11" or 12". She did 3 trials of each size, throwing from home plate to the outfield, then hitting off a tee to the outfield. The 12" actually went further on both throwing and hitting, in every trial. Now this isn't an exact science but it was just her throwing and hitting so she was the constant (using same effort each time), we were surprised by the results. Science project is due next month and she is going to have to come up with a conclusion as to why LOL

I would recommend a lot more trials, with multiple test subjects and on multiple different days if possible. It could be the specs of the balls, or she's more comfortable throwing/hitting the 12".

 

[CoogansBluff]

Interesting tidbit. My DD conducted an experiment for her science project: which ball would go further, 11" or 12". She did 3 trials of each size, throwing from home plate to the outfield, then hitting off a tee to the outfield. The 12" actually went further on both throwing and hitting, in every trial. Now this isn't an exact science but it was just her throwing and hitting so she was the constant (using same effort each time), we were surprised by the results. Science project is due next month and she is going to have to come up with a conclusion as to why LOL

That's interesting. I have 3 buckets of about 70 balls that I throw front toss to DD, and I've occasionally had 2-4 of the 11-inch balls in there. They travel farther. I wonder if we're using different compressions, or it could be that the smaller balls are harder to square up and their average distance might suffer b/c of that. But with the balls we have, DD can definitely hit the 11-inchers some 10-15 feet farther.

 

[KneeHighSocks]

I would recommend a lot more trials, with multiple test subjects and on multiple different days if possible. It could be the specs of the balls, or she's more comfortable throwing/hitting the 12".

She actually is 10U and doesn't throw the 12" much at all. She had to be the constant that's why we didn't use additional test subjects in this case.
Now that she is doing her conclusion research is showing that this has to do more with weight of the ball than size. It's the momentum, deceleration force and air resistance. The heavier the ball the more energy is used to launch it, the heavy ball does not slow as quickly in the air once launched as the light ball and so it travels farther. The weights of the 2 balls aren't a lot different, 1/2 an ounce so the travel differences are HUGE. In the trials the 12" was only going a few feet further than the 11" each time

 

[KneeHighSocks]

here is where she got the idea of doing this experiment from it's another experiment we found online comparing travel distances of a baseball and a softball. The softball (bigger ball) went further in this experiment as well. She wanted to see if 12" balls really don't go as far as 11" because she is a pitcher and has to move up to 12U next year and is worried about the 12" making her slower. I think after reading this experiment and then conducting our own, we realize that a lot of variables will take place at any given time, but basically there isn't a huge difference between the 2 softballs

http://mwvsciencefair.wikispaces.com/Ball+Size+Travel

 

[90210]

She actually is 10U and doesn't throw the 12" much at all. She had to be the constant that's why we didn't use additional test subjects in this case.
Now that she is doing her conclusion research is showing that this has to do more with weight of the ball than size. It's the momentum, deceleration force and air resistance. The heavier the ball the more energy is used to launch it, the heavy ball does not slow as quickly in the air once launched as the light ball and so it travels farther. The weights of the 2 balls aren't a lot different, 1/2 an ounce so the travel differences are HUGE. In the trials the 12" was only going a few feet further than the 11" each time

The heavier ball should have a lower exit speed when being thrown if the energy used to throw it is the same, and be more affected by air resistance. My guess is that your DD's arm speed is basically the same for both balls which means that more energy is being used when throwing the 12".

RE: the baseball experiment. Probably has a lot to do with the balls specs (baseballs are generally softer than a softball), and the fact that the distances involved are pretty low, thus wind resistance plays a minimal part.

Interesting experiment though, thanks for sharing.