Posted 4:04 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011
[caption id="attachment_4797" align="alignright" width="408" caption="Ali Khalili, UW-L math and physics major, isn't a baseball fan or player. He is facinated by the physics and math behind collisions."]
[/caption]UW-La Crosse student Ali Khalili loves a good baseball question.
He’s not talking about how many home runs slugger Prince Fielder hit or score of the last Milwaukee Brewers game. The UW-L math and physics major wants to know what mathematical equations will lead him to find the sweet spot on a bat.
He’s been coming up with calculations employing math and physics concepts in multivariate calculus, algebra and classical mechanics to find the answer — all summer long.
Khalili’s sweet spot study is one of the research projects that will be presented during the Fifth Annual College of Science and Health Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium from 1-3 p.m. Aug. 11, at UW-L.
When it comes to baseball, the sweet spot is important, says Chris Schwarz, UW-L head baseball coach. “It’s the difference between the ball traveling or not,” he explains. “The sweet spot is where the ball will jump off the bat. You will get more of a trampoline effect.”
Khalili says his results would be more beneficial to baseball bat makers than the players. Either way, he’s more interested in the formulas than how the results could be used on the field.
“People assume I’m a huge baseball fan,” says Khalili. “Actually, I know nothing about baseball.”
What the UW-L senior is fascinated with is collisions, which allow him to fully integrate his love for both math and physics. While the collision of a baseball and bat may not be relevant to people outside the world of baseball, collision modeling in general has wide applications. For instance, a mathematical description of a car colliding with a wall could save car makers the expense and time involved in smashing cars via crash tests, says Ted Wendt, Khalili’s faculty mentor and UW-L professor of mathematics. Similar models can be used to tell robots how gently or forcefully to handle delicate equipment.
“If we are able to come up with good mathematical descriptions for how the world behaves, we are more able to predict and simulate how things occur,” says Wendt.
Khalili says the computing starts rather simply. Basics physics concepts tell us energy is neither created or destroyed as it transfers from ball to bat. But that’s not accounting for factors such as the bat’s vibration energy lost due to sound or heat. When Khalili starts figuring in all the variables, simple equations give rise to longer ones and soon he’s filled up an entire white board with graphs and diagrams to explain concepts like distance the ball will go with respect to the height at which it is hit.
Khalili said it was an international Mathematical and Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling in spring 2010 that got him hooked on the sweet spot question. He and two other UW-L students were up against 1,000 other teams who were all asked to find formulas for the sweet spot in just 96 hours. Khalili’s team submitted a report, placing them in the top 15 to 20 percent of teams internationally. Another group of three UW-L students placed among the top nine papers in the world.
Khalili is close to finishing a simplified version of the model. The next step would be creating a simulation of a ball and bat collision based on that model.
“A lot of times when people think of math research they draw a blank,” says Wendt. “This gives him a way of showing that mathematics is applicable.”
Khalili says he likes thinking about how mathematical equations take on a physical form. He’s grateful the UW-L Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship program has allowed him to do this work all summer. Fans in the stands may be wondering how far Fielder’s home run went in Miller Park. Khalili wonders how fast the ball was spinning — squared.
The College of Science and Health Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium highlights the work of UW-L undergraduates who are supported in summer research through the Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship Program, WiscAMP program and students funded through UW-L faculty research grants and other external grants.
If you go:
What: Fifth Annual College of Science and Health Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium
When: 1-3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 11
Where: Port O’ Call Cartwright Center – Gunning Addition at UW-L
[/caption]UW-La Crosse student Ali Khalili loves a good baseball question.
He’s not talking about how many home runs slugger Prince Fielder hit or score of the last Milwaukee Brewers game. The UW-L math and physics major wants to know what mathematical equations will lead him to find the sweet spot on a bat.
He’s been coming up with calculations employing math and physics concepts in multivariate calculus, algebra and classical mechanics to find the answer — all summer long.
Khalili’s sweet spot study is one of the research projects that will be presented during the Fifth Annual College of Science and Health Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium from 1-3 p.m. Aug. 11, at UW-L.
When it comes to baseball, the sweet spot is important, says Chris Schwarz, UW-L head baseball coach. “It’s the difference between the ball traveling or not,” he explains. “The sweet spot is where the ball will jump off the bat. You will get more of a trampoline effect.”
Khalili says his results would be more beneficial to baseball bat makers than the players. Either way, he’s more interested in the formulas than how the results could be used on the field.
“People assume I’m a huge baseball fan,” says Khalili. “Actually, I know nothing about baseball.”
What the UW-L senior is fascinated with is collisions, which allow him to fully integrate his love for both math and physics. While the collision of a baseball and bat may not be relevant to people outside the world of baseball, collision modeling in general has wide applications. For instance, a mathematical description of a car colliding with a wall could save car makers the expense and time involved in smashing cars via crash tests, says Ted Wendt, Khalili’s faculty mentor and UW-L professor of mathematics. Similar models can be used to tell robots how gently or forcefully to handle delicate equipment.
“If we are able to come up with good mathematical descriptions for how the world behaves, we are more able to predict and simulate how things occur,” says Wendt.
Khalili says the computing starts rather simply. Basics physics concepts tell us energy is neither created or destroyed as it transfers from ball to bat. But that’s not accounting for factors such as the bat’s vibration energy lost due to sound or heat. When Khalili starts figuring in all the variables, simple equations give rise to longer ones and soon he’s filled up an entire white board with graphs and diagrams to explain concepts like distance the ball will go with respect to the height at which it is hit.
Khalili said it was an international Mathematical and Interdisciplinary Contest in Modeling in spring 2010 that got him hooked on the sweet spot question. He and two other UW-L students were up against 1,000 other teams who were all asked to find formulas for the sweet spot in just 96 hours. Khalili’s team submitted a report, placing them in the top 15 to 20 percent of teams internationally. Another group of three UW-L students placed among the top nine papers in the world.
Khalili is close to finishing a simplified version of the model. The next step would be creating a simulation of a ball and bat collision based on that model.
“A lot of times when people think of math research they draw a blank,” says Wendt. “This gives him a way of showing that mathematics is applicable.”
Khalili says he likes thinking about how mathematical equations take on a physical form. He’s grateful the UW-L Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship program has allowed him to do this work all summer. Fans in the stands may be wondering how far Fielder’s home run went in Miller Park. Khalili wonders how fast the ball was spinning — squared.
The College of Science and Health Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium highlights the work of UW-L undergraduates who are supported in summer research through the Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship Program, WiscAMP program and students funded through UW-L faculty research grants and other external grants.
If you go:
What: Fifth Annual College of Science and Health Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium
When: 1-3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 11
Where: Port O’ Call Cartwright Center – Gunning Addition at UW-L