Final Project
Evidence of Work
For this project, we were allowed to do anything we wanted that connected to our groups' lives. Our group had decided that we wanted to do sports, while incorporating pop culture. I had came up with idea to base our project on the 2021 celebrity softball game at the MLB All Star Game in Colorado. Basing our project on this game would allow us to do sports, while also involving pop culture as many icons played in the game. This would also connect well with me and Skye as we both play baseball, which is a close connection to softball.
While watching the game, our group found that the very first play of the game would be perfect to do a project. The very first play of the game was Quavo, a rapper, striking out DK Metcalf, a football player. We finalized our project idea by deciding that we would focus on the hypothetical question of, If he made contact, what would happen to the ball? This included how hard it would come off the bat, how far it would go, and some other factors. We felt that this would perfectly encapsulate what we wanted to do with our project as well as show our understanding of what we learned this year.
Content
Velocity
Velocity is the speed at which an object is traveling. This is measured in any measure of distance divided by any measure of time. Ex: Miles per hour. Velocity was easily the most important part of our project as it was in every single equation.
Rotational Velocity
The velocity of a point on a rotating object. This can be found by multiplying the amount of radians traveled per second by the radius of the point being measured from the center point of the rotation
Collision
Our whole project was based on a collision, so this is very important to us. Our collision was 50% elastic due to the BBCOR rating of the bat being .5. This meant we could just add the velocity of the ball, velocity of the bat, and divide by 2.
BBCOR
BBCOR stands for Bat-ball coefficient of restitution, which basically means the coefficient for elasticity in a collision between the bat and a ball.
Trigonometry
We had to use trigonometry to find the horizontal and vertical components of our velocity. This allowed us to calculate how long the ball was in the air and how far it would travel.
Drag
The force of drag is equal to 1/2CpAv^2. C is equal to the coefficient of drag.
Magnus Effect
The force of the magnus effect is also equal to 1/2CpAv^2, but C is now equal to the coefficient of lift rather than the coefficient of drag.
Kinematics
Our project largely revolved around kinematics and it wouldn't be complete if we didn't use kinematic equations
Spin
We were able to determine how forespin/backspin would effect a ball's flight
Coefficient of Lift
Reflection
This was a whole new experience for me. I'd never done anything like that before, so there were some difficulties. However, I felt that I was able to adapt well and use my abilities to produce a solid end product. In my senior year, I hope to expand on this success.
Despite the fact that this project was a success, I still have some things to work on. My next endeavor will require me to strengthen my mindful learning skills. There were moments when I got off track and didn't work with my team. This is unacceptable because I was wasting time that could have been spent on the project. I need to keep outside distractions to a minimum. Another area that I need to improve is my communication skills. I was occasionally perplexed by what my organization wanted me to do. Rather than asking, I just did what I thought was correct or waited for someone to tell me. This was a complete waste of time, and it was all due to a lack of communication. The project will be even better if I can work on these items for the next time.
Even though some things went wrong, I thought I did certain things successfully. During this endeavor, I believed my character was fantastic. Every day, I attempted to maintain a pleasant attitude and keep things upbeat. I listened to all of my teammates and attempted to include everyone in the process. I'm hoping to channel this enthusiasm into my next project as well. During this assignment, I also thought my teamwork was excellent. I was always offering suggestions for how we could improve our project, and I listened to my teammates when they did the same. Because of my lack of communication, the excellent teamwork I had with my group was quite beneficial.