Two Holy Cross Seniors to Take Zero-Gravity Flight to Study Physics of Baseball

WORCESTER, Mass. – For 30 years, Red Sox fans have cursed Bucky Dent, the former Yankees shortstop that won the game for N.Y. with a three-run homer in 1978.  They've replayed the scene wondering what (if anything) could have made that hit result in an out in left field, rather than a homerun.  There soon could be an answer.

This summer, two College of the Holy Cross physics majors will be the first to measure the spin decay of a baseball—which could have implications for organizations from Major League Baseball to the airline industry.  And they'll do it at zero gravity.

This Sunday, seniors Kevin Sullo and Tom Booth will take off on a zero-g flight from Titusville, Fla. (with their feet and equipment securely Velcroed to the floor), to study how a baseball moves through air, focusing on how quickly spin changes.  Their findings could help better predict the flight of a baseball in different parks, at different temperatures and different humidity levels.

Sullo and Booth, who research under Mathew Koss, associate professor of physics at the College, responded to a call for proposals put out by Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) aeronautical/astronautical engineering department to gain access to the flight.  Of 30 chosen, they are the only undergraduates and the only non-MIT students.

For the past month, the two physics majors have been building their testing apparatus and performing dry runs of their experiment—they'll only have eight 20 - 30 second intervals at zero-g to collect data.

Sullo, Booth and Koss will appear on a FOX25 News Special Report this Saturday at 10 p.m.  They will be discussing their research on the physics of baseball and the students' upcoming zero-gravity flight to collect data.

Tune in to FOX25 News (Boston, local channel 6) Saturday, June 20 at 10 p.m.

The segment will also be available online at http://www.myfoxboston.com/.