STEM+fair+project


 * Which Baseball bat is better? Wood or Aluminum**

To do this experiment you will need the following materials and equipment:
 * Materials:**
 * Playing field
 * Baseball bats: one wood, another aluminum of equal length
 * Baseballs: at least three of the exact same size and type
 * Baseball tee
 * Long tape measure or electronic measuring device (if not metric, then convert feet to meters)
 * Blue painter's tape (3/4" wide)
 * Notebook or paper
 * Pen or pencil
 * One person to hit the balls
 * One outfield assistant


 * Procedure:**
 * 1) Arrange with your crew the day and time to meet at the ball park.
 * 2) Prepare two "Record of Hits" data tables. Use one to record the data from the wood bat and the other to record the data from the aluminum bat.
 * 3) The goal is to collect data from at least 25 good hits from each bat with all hits right on the sweet zone . You should alternate between the wood and aluminum bats every five hits. Line drives down the middle are best, but you can include hits off to either side as long as they are not foul balls.
 * 4) Wrap two pieces of tape around the bat to mark the outer margins of the sweet zone on each bat (an area between 4–7 inches from the end).
 * 5) Set up the baseball tee at home plate, and take a few practice swings to warm up.
 * 6) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,Verdana,sans-serif;">For each hit, the out-field assistant should stand directly behind the ball. Measure and record the distance of each hit before the batter takes the next swing off the tee.


 * Hypothesis:**

The aluminum bats make the ball go further and faster off the bat because of the hollow barrel. The reason the Major League Baseball players use wood bats is because they fear it would be to dangerous to use aluminum bats in games.


 * Notes #1**

Before we take a look at which bat is better, we need to look at the sweet spots of each bat. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">When you hit a ball just right, you've hit it on one of the three "sweet spots" of the bat. One of these sweet spots relates to vibration. Whenever an object is struck, it vibrates in response. These vibrations travel in waves up and down the length of the bat. At one point, called "the node," the waves always cancel each other out. If you hit the ball on the bat's node, the vibrations from the impact will cancel out, and you won't feel any stinging or shaking in your hand. Since little of the bat's energy is lost to vibrations when this spot is hit, more energy can go to the ball.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Notes #2 **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">There are four variables of a baseball players swing:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">**Speed:** a fast bat speed is a crucial factor in a swing because having a fast bat speed means the more velocity the ball will get which correlates to how far and fast the ball will travel after impact.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Power: **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Power is how the energy is transferred to the ball at contact. This ties in with speed but also takes into consideration mass and acceleration.


 * Quickness:** This is very important since the hitter has roughly 0.5 seconds between when the ball is thrown by the pitcher and caught by the catcher


 * Control:** Having the other three variables down doesn't help if you can't put the bat on the ball. Control directly correlates with angle, path, and plane of the swing

( keep in mind that no one will have all of these 100% down. Swings are inconsistent and change every time, but these are the basic variables that lead to hitting )

In conclusion these bats hit very well with very little vibration from both bats. when looking at the averages of the two bats there is not a huge differences
 * Conclusion :**

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ffffff; font-family: proxima-nova,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Power at it re of energy and how that energy is transferred to the ball at contact. Power is directly related to speed, but also includes such important factors as the mass and acceleration of the bat. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ffffff; font-family: proxima-nova,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Power at its core is a measure of energy and how that energy is transferred to the ball at contact. Power is directly related to speed, mass a