© 2024
NPR for Northern Colorado
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Fantasy Baseball For Physicists: Very, Very Fast Fastballs

By Robert Krulwich
Published July 13, 2012 at 6:53 AM MDT

Here's a question: What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90 percent of the speed of light?

The answer is: Don't.

Not that anyone's going to pitch a ball that fast, but if they do, you definitely don't want to be the batter. Or the pitcher. Or in the stands watching. Or anywhere near the ball field. But, trust me, you very definitely want to see what happens.

Cartoonist Randall Munroe over at has just launched an every Tuesday "" series. And in this first one, he's asked what would happen if a ball approached 90 percent of the speed of light. His answer, mixed with his wonderfully primitive illustrations, starts calmly...

To see what follows, go over to his place, but first, put on some sunglasses, buy a lead suit, then click here.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Tags
Baseball
Robert Krulwich
Robert Krulwich works on radio, podcasts, video, the blogosphere. He has been called "the most inventive network reporter in television" by TV Guide.
See stories by Robert Krulwich
Related Content
  • Baseball's 10th player: you, on your couch, willing a win.
    For Baseball Fans, May The Force Be With You
    Hart Seely
    What if Darth Vader was controlling not just the Death Star, but also the Yankees? Commentator Hart Seely thinks he, like Luke's father, can influence plays on the field from afar. How do you affect your team from your couch? Tell us your secret baseball-watching rituals in the comments.
  • 'Moneyball': How The Oakland A's Gamed Baseball
    Year after year, the teams with the biggest payrolls make baseball's playoffs, but for at least a few years in the 2000's, the Oakland A's were an exception to that rule. Host Scott Simon talks to author Michael Lewis, who detailed general manager Billy Beane's campaign to find a new way to win in his best-selling book, Moneyball.
  • Thinking Too Much About Chalk
    Robert Krulwich
    When a school teacher writes her name on a blackboard on the first day of class, what she's really doing is crushing the skeletons of terribly ancient earthlings into a form that spells out the name "Mrs. Guttenheimer."
  • Woman On Street Attacked By Giant Snail, It Seems
    Robert Krulwich
    It looks like you could jump right into street artist Julian Beever's pool. But beware: You'd be in for a hard landing. His work, just chalk on concrete, is a mastery of perspective.
Load More