Why in baseball the optimal angle for a home run is a lot less than 45 degrees?
In high school physics (okay, this is no longer 5 year old level) to throw something to the most distant, you throw it at 45 degrees.
But why in baseball the optimal angle for hitting a home run is a lot less than what is taught in physics?
I kind of understand it has to do with air resistance, but why does air resistance change the angle by that much?
In: Physics
If you hit it more than 45 degrees, most of the energy will make the ball go high, but not far.
If you hit the ball less than 45 degrees the ball will go far, but not high.
You need the prefect balance, because gravity is also reducing the height of the ball in both cases.
**Air resistance can really be ignored.
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