In this video by Destin Sandlin, he, along with his associates, Jeremey Fielding, David Linderman, Trent, and David, make a canon that can fire a baseball at supersonic speeds. I think that Destin’s videos on his YouTube channel Smarter Every Day really exemplify the science within everyday objects and his “art” is making it accessible for everyone to view. In this video, he uses a Schlieren imaging setup to capture the conical pressure wave generated by the baseball traveling at supersonic speeds. It is incredible to watch and easily seen that the baseball has achieved supersonic velocity by viewing the Schlieren recording. Based on the angle of the waves they are able to determine the velocity and confirm that the baseball is traveling at 1050 mph or Mach 1.3. The images generated are spectacular and you can see the wake left behind the ball as well as the shock closing in behind the ball in the turbulent wake it generates. It is truly a marvel how a simple object like a baseball can spark people’s imaginations, and take that object to extremes.

Citation: Sandlin, Destin. “World’s Fastest Pitch – Supersonic Baseball Cannon – Smarter Every Day 242” YouTube, uploaded by Smarter Every Day, 6 September 2020, https://youtu.be/cqidD7kVnxY?t=0.