"Curve balls are usually attributed to the Magnus force," says Bloomfield.
"When the ball is spinning, the air tends to follow a longer path around one
side than the other, because it's dragged along by the ball’s turning surface.”
Air following the longer path bends more sharply, resulting in a dramatic drop
in air pressure on that side of the ball. The ball is pushed toward the
low-pressure side. A similar drop in pressure over an airplane’s wing is the
source of lift that supports the plane. “Although a plane’s lift is upward,”
Bloomfield points out, “for a ball lift can be in any direction, depending on
the direction the ball is spinning.”
Contents contributed and discussions participated by Lily Moore
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