National Park College (NPC) geology students were recently tasked with calculating
the best placement for a bronze statue of Babe Ruth to be placed at Hot Springs’ Majestic
Park baseball complex. The eight-foot-tall statue serves as the third-existing statue
of Babe Ruth and features the legendary slugger swinging a bat while standing on a
three-foot-tall base.
Mary Zunick, Cultural Affairs Manager for Visit Hot Springs, contacted NPC and requested
help to calculate how the sun’s rays would strike the statue. Zunick made the request
on behalf of the statue’s artist, Chad Fisher, of Fisher Sculptures. Students were
asked to determine the amount of sunlight that would strike the face of the statue
during the baseball season from February 25 thru July 25. The artist was concerned
about the statue receiving sufficient sunlight for photographic opportunities when
park visitors interact with the statue during baseball season.
Through on-site research and calculations of sun angles, students discovered that
based on the proposed location at 34°29’42” N, 93°2’60” W the placement would allow
for approximately the top 2 feet of the statue to receive sunlight by February 25,
2022, and the entire statue to receive sunlight by May 20, 2022. Students also calculated
information concerning when the sunlight would strike the statue in the morning and
in the evening.
NPC students in Dr. George Maxey’s Geology class —Myles C. Anderson, Rose Baghestani,
Jeremiah Brown, Jacob A. Claborn, Silas Cowgill, Jack Hackney, Zachary R. Hardcastle,
Ayden T. Heard, Sophia R. Howell, Braden Knight, Jaden Lewis, Jeff Looper, Skyler
Messmann, Kylie Schroeder, Brant M. Stevens, Brianca Y. Thomas and Jacob Weems—contributed
to this research and presented their findings to Hot Springs city leaders on Nov.
22.
