The World's Best Illusion: The Secret of the Curve Ball
Devin Powell
Inside Science News Service
May 13, 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C. (ISNS) -- The three best visual illusions in the world were chosen at a gathering last weekend of neuroscientists and psychologists at the Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts in Florida.
The winning entry, from a Bucknell University professor, may help explain why curve balls in baseball are so tricky to hit.
A properly thrown curve ball spins in a way that makes the air on one side move faster than on the other. This causes the ball to move along a gradual curve. From the point of view of a batter standing on home plate, though, curve balls seem to "break," or move suddenly in a new direction.
This year's winning illusion, created by Arthur Shapiro of Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, may explain this phenomena. His animation shows a spinning ball that, when watched directly, moves in a straight line. When seen out of the corner of the eye, however, the spin of the ball fools the brain into thinking that the ball is curving.
So as a baseball flies towards home plate, the moment when it passes from central to peripheral vision could exaggerate the movement of the ball, causing its gradual curve to be seen as a sudden jerk.
3 comments:
SO much for Texeira
Frankly, I don't wholly believe this article.
When I was 13, there was a guy in my neighborhood who was five years older than me. The dude threw a sizzling (literally sizzling, you could hear it) fastball. At the time, I don't think he was even pitching curves.
But, I can tell you that I watched that thing jump all over the place.
If there is no real break to a curve, then please explain to me why MLB players can not hit the knuckleball.
If scientists want to prove that curveballs don't break, knucklers don't knuckle, and fastballs don't rise and skip, then they're going to have to show me the evidence in super-slow-mo with a grid in the background.
You ever faced real pitching, Epa? It's a freak show. If it weren't then I could probably hit in the major leagues, cuz I certainly can hit at the batting cages.
It's just a different world at the plate.
OK - that is some serious fun.
Ro
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