Hey there! Have you ever heard of Jim Abbott? He’s a super cool baseball player who amazed everyone with his incredible skills. What makes Jim so special is that he played baseball with just one hand! While other players used two hands, Jim had to switch his glove really fast to catch and throw the ball. Isn’t that awesome?
Now, let’s talk about something exciting—how fast a baseball can be thrown! Someone named Eli asked a great question: “What is the fastest baseball ever thrown?” Well, technically, the fastest baseball was thrown by astronauts in space! On the International Space Station, they threw a baseball that traveled at a mind-blowing speed of 17,500 miles per hour. That’s way faster than any baseball thrown on Earth!
But what about here on Earth? A regular adult can throw a baseball at about 40 to 50 miles per hour. That’s twice as fast as the fastest human runners! Some amazing pitchers, like Raine Padgham, can throw even faster. Raine, who is just 15 years old, can throw a baseball over 80 miles per hour. That’s faster than cars zooming by on the freeway!
And then there’s Jordan Hicks, one of the fastest pitchers in the world. He can throw a baseball at over 100 miles per hour. Wow, that’s super fast! But how do these pitchers throw so quickly? Do they have superpowers?
Let’s find out! You might think that being really strong is the key to throwing fast. But that’s not the whole story. Even though chimpanzees are super strong, they can’t throw as fast as humans. So, what’s the secret?
When pitchers throw a baseball, it’s not just about muscles. It’s also about how their bones and ligaments work together. Ligaments are like rubber bands that connect our bones. When pitchers wind up and pull their arms back, they stretch these ligaments, storing energy just like a stretched rubber band. When they release the ball, all that energy makes the ball zoom forward!
So, can anyone learn to throw as fast as the fastest pitchers? Not exactly. Only a few pitchers, like Aroldis Chapman, can throw faster than 100 miles per hour. Scientists think some people have stretchier ligaments, which helps them throw faster. It’s like a special ability some people are born with.
But wait, there’s more! Machines can throw even faster than humans. The Supersonic Baseball Cannon can pitch a baseball at over 1,000 miles per hour! That’s so fast that the ball would explode if it hit a bat!
So, in summary, pitchers throw fast by stretching their ligaments and launching the ball forward, just like a rubber band launcher. Some pitchers, like Aroldis Chapman, have thrown the fastest pitches ever. Thanks for the awesome question, Eli! Remember, there are mysteries all around us. Stay curious, and see you next time!
Rubber Band Experiment: Let’s explore how stretchy ligaments work by using rubber bands! Gather a few rubber bands and stretch them between your fingers. Notice how they store energy when stretched and release it when you let go. Try launching a small paper ball using the rubber band. How far can you make it go? Think about how this is similar to how pitchers use their ligaments to throw a baseball fast.
Speed Comparison Activity: With the help of an adult, use a stopwatch to time how fast you can run a short distance, like 10 meters. Compare your speed to the speed of a baseball thrown by a pitcher like Jordan Hicks. How much faster is the baseball? Discuss with your friends or family why pitchers can throw so much faster than we can run.
Observation Challenge: Next time you watch a baseball game or a video of a pitcher, pay close attention to how they wind up and throw the ball. Can you spot when they stretch their arm back and release the ball? Try mimicking their movements in slow motion. How does it feel to stretch your arm like a pitcher?
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the YouTube transcript:
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(device beeping) – Hi, it’s Doug. This is professional baseball player, Jim Abbott. He’s considered by many to be one of the best pitchers ever. What makes him even more incredible is that while the players he faced used two hands, Jim Abbott had to do it all with one. That’s because Jim Abbott was born with only one hand, but that didn’t stop him from being an amazing player. You notice how he switches his glove super fast? That’s so he can throw the ball after he catches it. So cool!
Someone named Eli has a question about baseball. Let’s give Eli a call now. (device beeping) – Hi, Doug. – Hi, Eli. – I have a question for you. What is the fastest baseball ever thrown? – That’s a great question. Now, technically, the answer to this question is this throw right here. You see that? These are astronauts playing baseball on the International Space Station, and that baseball they threw is traveling nearly 17,500 miles an hour. That’s more than 150 times faster than any baseball player has ever thrown.
Wait, what? It didn’t look like it was that fast. Well, that’s why I said technically. The Space Station is high up in space, circling around the Earth at a speed of 17,500 miles an hour. So, anything thrown while on the Space Station is also going 17,500 miles an hour, plus a little bit.
Okay, but that’s not really what we have in mind when we wonder about the fastest baseball ever thrown. What’s the fastest baseball ever thrown down here on planet Earth? Well, first of all, just to give you a sense of a usual speed for a pitch, a typical adult can throw a baseball about 40 to 50 miles per hour. That’s about twice as fast as the fastest human runners on Earth. But there are some people, like professional baseball pitchers, who can throw a lot faster. And some of them aren’t even adults, like Raine Padgham. Raine can throw a baseball over 80 miles an hour. That’s faster than the cars you see speeding by on the freeway. And get this, Raine is only 15 years old.
And check out Jordan Hicks. Jordan is one of the fastest pitchers in the world. Jordan’s throws go more than 100 miles per hour. Whoa, that’s really fast! So, how do people like Raine and Jordan throw that fast? I mean, the typical kid can’t even throw half that fast. Do these baseball pitchers have some superhuman powers?
Before I say anything more, I’m curious. What do you think? How do you think baseball players throw that fast? Now would be a good time to pause the video and discuss.
Okay, you ready? Now, I don’t know how you answered, but you may have thought that professional baseball pitchers are a lot stronger than most people. And that makes sense. It seems like you would need to be really strong to throw a baseball that fast. Check out these chimpanzees. Though they look kind of small and cute, chimpanzees are a lot stronger than human beings, and they could easily beat a grownup in a wrestling match. So, if being strong is the most important thing, then chimpanzees should be able to pitch a lot faster than humans, right? But they can’t. In fact, a lot of kindergartners can pitch faster than a chimpanzee. Hmm.
So, if being strong isn’t the main thing, what is? Well, when you throw something, it’s not just about the muscles in your arms and shoulders. The bones in your arm and shoulder have to move together as well. And our bones are connected to each other by rubber band-like structures called ligaments.
Watch this. Notice how baseball pitchers twist their bodies around when they pitch? When a pitcher winds up their body and pulls their arm back, the ligaments in their arms stretch out and get ready to make the ball blast off. See how this pitcher pulls his arm way back? He’s stretching his ligaments out as far as he can, which builds up energy in his shoulder. It’s exactly like when you pull back on a rubber band, like on a water balloon launcher. The more you can stretch it back, the faster the water balloon is going to fly. When the pitcher releases the ball, it’s just like letting go of that rubber band and launching the water balloon, and all of that energy gets released into the ball.
Okay, so if what makes a pitch fast is learning how to wind up and stretch your ligaments out as far as you can, does that mean anyone can learn how to throw as fast as the fastest pitchers? Well, not quite. Even though there are thousands of professional pitchers, there have only been a few who’ve been able to throw faster than 100 miles per hour, like Aroldis Chapman. He holds the world record for the fastest pitch ever thrown, 105 miles per hour.
So, how did he do it? Well, scientists who study the human body think that one of the reasons pitchers like Aroldis Chapman are able to throw faster than anyone else is because some people’s ligaments are just stretchier than others, and the more they can stretch, the more energy they can give to their arm when they throw. How stretchy someone’s ligaments are might just be an ability only certain people are born with. Some scientists also think that human beings will never be able to throw much faster than Aroldis does. That’s because the ligaments in our arms just can’t stretch much farther without snapping, just like a rubber band would snap if you stretched it out too far.
But even though people can’t throw faster, that doesn’t mean machines can’t. Meet the Supersonic Baseball Cannon. It pitched a baseball over 1,000 miles per hour, the fastest pitch ever thrown. Its pitches are so fast that the ball would explode if it ever hit a bat.
So, in summary, pitchers are able to throw fast because they’re really good at stretching the ligaments in their shoulders and launching the ball forward, like a water balloon launcher launches a balloon. Some pitchers are able to stretch their ligaments farther than other people, like Aroldis Chapman, who’s thrown the fastest pitch ever.
That’s all for this week’s question. Thanks, Eli, for asking it. Now, for the next episode, I reached into my question jar and picked out three questions sent in to me that I’m thinking about answering next. When this video is done playing, you’ll get to vote on one. You can choose from: how is Velcro made? Why do we get brain freeze? Or, is it possible to become invisible? So, submit your vote when the video’s over. I want to hear from all of you watching. There are mysteries all around us. Stay curious, and see you next week.
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