《那些古怪又讓人憂心的問題》第74期:高擲比賽(2)
A mechanism for hitting yourself in thehead with a baseball after a four-second delay
這個裝置能讓你在扔出棒球4秒後被這個棒球砸中腦袋。
We could use a springboard, a greasedchute, or even a dangling sling-anything that redirects the object upwardwithout adding to or subtracting from its speed. Of course, we could also trythis:
它可以是一個跳板、一個潤滑過的滑槽，甚至是一個懸空的吊索——任何能夠偏轉物體而又不增加或減少它的速度的東西都行。當然了，我們還可以試試這個：
I ran through the basic aerodynamiccalculations for a baseball thrown at various speeds. I will give these heightsin units of giraffes:
我進行了一些基礎的空氣動力學計算，得出了以不同初速度扔棒球能達到的高度。我將以長頸鹿的高度作爲比較對象：
The average person can probably throw abaseball at least three giraffes high:
平常人大概至少能把棒球扔到3只長頸鹿這麼高：
Someone with a reasonably good arm couldmanage five:
一些臂力不錯的人大概可以扔到5只長頸鹿這麼高：
A pitcher with an 80 mph fastball couldmanage ten giraffes:
投手扔出的時速130千米的快球能飛到10只長頸鹿這麼高：
Aroldis Chapman, the holder of the worldrecord for fastest recorded pitch (105 mph), could in theory launch a baseball14 giraffes high:
阿羅魯迪斯•查普曼保持着世界最快投球的紀錄（時速170千米），理論上他的球能飛到14只長頸鹿這麼高：
But what about projectiles other than abaseball? Obviously, with the aid of tools like slings, crossbows, or thecurved xistera scoops in jai alai, we can launch projectiles much faster thanthat. But for this question, let's assume we stick to bare-handed throwing.
但如果投擲物不是棒球呢？很明顯，在彈弓、十字弩或是回力球運動中那些弧形擲球器等工具的幫助下，我們能以更快的速度把東西扔出去。但在這個問題中，我們還是要求要徒手扔。
A baseball is probably not the idealprojectile, but it's hard to find speed data on other kinds of thrown unately, a British javelin thrower named Roald Bradstock held a “randomobject throwing competition,” in which he threw everything from dead fish to anactual kitchen sink. Bradstock's experience gives us a lot of useful data.4 Inparticular, it suggests a potentially superior projectile: a golf ball.
棒球可能不是理想的投擲物，但問題是很難找到其他投擲物的速度記錄。幸運的是，一個叫作羅阿爾德•布拉茲托克的英國標槍運動員曾舉辦過一個隨機物品投擲大賽。在比賽中他扔過從死魚到廚房水槽在內的一大堆東西。布拉茲托克的經歷給了我們許多有用的數據4。在這些數據中，一個很有潛力的理想投擲物是——高爾夫球。
Few professional athletes have beenrecorded throwing golf balls. Fortunately, Bradstock has, and he claims arecord throw of 170 yards. This involved a running start, but even so, it'sreason to think that a golf ball might work better than a baseball. From aphysics standpoint, it makes sense; the limiting factor in baseball pitches isthe torque on the elbow, and the lighter golf ball might allow the pitching armto move slightly faster.
專業運動員扔高爾夫球的記錄少之又少。但十分幸運的是，布拉茲托克曾經這麼幹過，他聲稱扔過155米（從投擲點到第一次觸地點）的距離。他扔之前是有助跑的，但儘管如此仍然有理由相信扔高爾夫球是比扔棒球更好的選擇。這也說得通：在投擲棒球的過程中制約因素是手肘上的力矩，而投擲更輕的高爾夫球能讓手臂運動得稍快一些。
