Chapter 8, Problem 40A

When catching a foul ball at a baseball game, why is it important to extend your bare hands upward so they can move downward as the ball is being caught?

To determine

To explain: The reason for extending bare hands upwards, while catching a foul ball at baseball game.

Answer to Problem 40A

It is important to extend bare hands to reduce the rate of change of momentum of the ball falling on the hand to avoid damages to your hand.

Explanation of Solution

Introduction:

As per Newton’s second law of motion, “The rate of change of momentum of a body is directly proportional to the applied force in the same direction as that of the resultant force”

When a person catch a foul ball at a baseball game, his hands will exert some amount of force on the ball as the ball hits the hand and the impact on the hand will be huge as the change in momentum will be drastic when the ball is received. So, if a person extend hands while catching a ball, he will be able to move hand backwards, which extends the time of impact. Therefore, the reaction force applied on the hands will be reduced as force is inversely proportional to the time of collision.

Conclusion:

Hence, it is important to extend the bare hands to reduce the rate of change of momentum of the ball falling on the hand to avoid damages.