Tuesday, 23 April 2013

The Magnus Effect

The Magnus effect is a lift force of tremendous importance to all athletes who want to bend the flight of the ball. As the spinning ball moves through the air, it spins a boundary layer of air that clings to its surface as it travels along. On one side of the ball the boundary layer of air collides with air passing by. The collision causes air to decelerate creating a high pressure area. On the opposing side, the boundary layer is moving in the same direction as the air passing by, so there is no collision and the air collectively moves faster. The pressure differential, high on one side and low on the other, creates a lift force that causes the ball to move in the direction of the pressure differential (Human Kinetics, 2013) (see image below).


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