A 55-mph baseball
Now — and I’m sure my brother Michael will correct me if I’m wrong, a 55-mph baseball pitch isn’t considered extremely fast.
Still, I imagine it would hurt a bit if it hit you.
Now, you may be familiar with what a proton is: a sub-atomic particle found in the nucleus of an atom. Needless to say, a proton is very, very, very, very small.
If we take an human who weighs about 150 pounds, their body would contain approximately 6,500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 protons. That’s 6.5 * 10^27 or 6.5 octillion protons. under normal circumstances, an individual proton is so small and weighs so little, you could not even notice it.
However, while researching something, I came across information about something that has been dubbed the “Oh-My-God particle.” It was first detected in 1991 by a cosmic ray detector at the University of Utah. Similar particles have been detected since then, confirming the discovery.
The particle is actually a proton traveling at a very high velocity. How high? 99.99999999999999999999951% of the speed of light.
At that speed, that itsy-bitsy proton had as much energy as a baseball traveling at 55 miles per hour.
And no one knows what is shooting protons around at that speed.
All right, the OMG particle is fast. But can you curve it? Most all star players can hit the fastball, but pitchers fool them with the curve.
Actually, David is partially correct, most players can hit a fastball. Speed alone isn’t what determines a good fastball. It’s the movement of the fastball that determines how good it is.
Read the following for some good information about the fastball.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1822135
A good curve also helps a pitcher, but only if they are able to use it effectively. And if a pitcher hangs a curve….goodbye baseball.
i think it must be beans, or a diet heavy in fresh fruits. at least, that seems to do it for me.