Oleg Zabluda's blog
Thursday, July 12, 2012
 
Relativistic baseball from xkcd http://what-if.xkcd.com/1/
Relativistic baseball from xkcd http://what-if.xkcd.com/1/

Clearly, it should be done on the Moon. Baseball weights 145g.

Random calculations:

Loretz factor sqrt(1/(1-0.9^2))=2.3
Kinetic energy: (2.3-1)*0.145kg*c^2/4.184e15 joules=4 MT TNT = 4.7e9 kwh (costs ~$0.8G by CA electricity rates)
prequel (pitcher recoil): 2.3*0.9c*0.145kg/100kg = 0.003 c (=2M mph =900 km/sec). 

This would throw the pitcher right out of Solar System (escape velocity 42.1 km/sec at Earth). He would pass Mars in 15 hours. In fact, it'll throw him right out of Milky Way (near Sun escape velocity is 525 km/s, while the Sun moves around galactic center at 250 km/sec), even if he pitches into unfavorable direction of Sun's motion towards Vega in Lyra.
http://what-if.xkcd.com/1/

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