If you threw a beach ball straight down the middle with no movement, the outcome would be very predictable. If there was a breeze, it would slightly deviate from the direction you threw. But what if we gave it a twist?
The deviation would be much greater, and if done in a very specific direction, it would literally float in the air like a frisbee, travelling horizontally much further than you could have imagined. But why is that the case?
This is due to the "Magnus effect," a fascinating phenomenon that separates air flow based on the direction of its spin. Let's look at a diagram to help you understand.
A V-velocity wind is blowing from the right. If we divide the ball horizontally from the middle, the upper portion rotates in the opposite direction of the wind, while the lower portion rotates in the same direction as the wind. As a result, the lower portion removes air molecules from its immediate vicinity, resulting in a low-pressure vacuum zone, while the upper portion compresses air, resulting in a high-pressure zone dense with air molecules.
The resulting pressure differential pushes the ball downward, as indicated by the arrow F. Verisateum explains this with a practical and interesting example.
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