By Jeremy P. Sacon  What comes to mind when you hear the word
physics? Perhaps you picture a bright green baseball field.
Maybe you envision a pitcher throwing a baseball to home plate.
Possibly you hear the crack of a bat hitting a ball and the roar
of the crowd. That wasn't what you were thinking? Maybe it
should be. After all, physics and baseball go hand in hand.
Pitched Balls  For year, many people thought that a curveball
was just an optical illusion. Physicist, however, have long
known that spinning ball curves in flight. In fact, Isaac Newton
wrote a paper on this subject back in 1671. Then, in 1852, the
German physicist Gustav Magnus investigated the topic further.
According to Magnus, a ball moving through air interacts with
thin layer of air known as the boundary layer peels away from
the surface of the ball. This creates a region of low pressure,
known as a wake, behind the ball. The difference in pressure
between the front and back of the ball creates a backward force
on the ball. This slows its