A baseball bat has a sweet spot where a ball can be hit with almost effortless transmission of energy. A careful analysis of baseball dynamics shows that this special spot is located at the point where an applied force would result in pure rotation of the bat about the handle grip. Determine the location of the sweet spot, xₛ , of the bat shown in Fig. 11–53. The linear mass density of the bat is given roughly by (0.61 + 3.3x²) kg/m , where x is in meters measured from the end of the handle. The entire bat is 0.84 m long. The desired rotation point should be 5.0 cm from the thin end where the bat is held. [Hint: Where is the cm of the bat?]
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