quote:Originally posted by jja:
Guys,
Although this is physics, it isn't rocket science. In the one handed bat experiment, just hold onto the bat and rotate. Watch the bat head. Then repeat the experiment but rotate twice as fast. What happens to the bat head? The barrel goes forward and the handle goes backward twice as fast as in the first experiment. Since you're not actively torquing the bat, how come the bat head is moving? It's the centifigual force acting on the bat head to drive it forward derived from the rotation of the body, much like the force you feel in a car as you drive around a curve. It isn't active torque on the handle of the bat applied by the hands.
I don't know what others do for a living but I do know that jja is actively in the field. Quincy, you seem to have a great grasp as well. I've sent out some of these posts to various professors and eagerly await their responses. Of course, I'm sure that they have better things to do. Perhaps one will respond. I'd have to say that lately we've had it all on the site from sublime to the bizarre. This thread, in and of itself, is a very interesting read. JMHO! (Oh, and I'm just a history/health teacher and so, science is not my gig.)