Magnus Effect, interesting sailing applications(s)

Subject: Magnus Effect, interesting sailing applications(s)

Well, I found this presentation on the Magnus Effect, interesting and thought others might also.

see at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OSrvzNW9FE&feature=youtu.be
The video shows the result of applying some spin and dropping a basketball over a dam’s edge.

Then simple physics and aerodynamics take over as the basketball astonishingly "flies" through the air, rather than simply falling.

The footage, which has amassed more than 3.5 million views since being posted online Wednesday, shows the basketball travel an incredible distance before finally hitting the ground.

A person on the video could be heard saying:

“I literally just dropped it, with a bit of spin, like I didn’t even throw it and it just took off. We had no idea it was going to do that,” another echoed.

According to the video’s creator, the phenomenon can be attributed to the Magnus Effect, which pushed air on the ball in a way that resulted in the effect.

Some experiemntal cargo ships are now using this to an advantage.

Watch the video to understand what happens.

Watch to the end and you'll see an amazing "basket" made after the ball falls more than 400 feet.

It is incredible as well as the ball flying.

you can do it at home with an inflated beach ball. Throw horizontally with some spin on it and the thing will make you look like a major league pitcher.

Ya know, this is why a curve ball- well 'curves' when thrown with spin on it.
It's also much the same as how a wing, or sail (a wing) produce lift, and causes the boat to move, etc.
Costeau had one of those rotors on their boat Calipso (sp?) years ago.
High velocity produces a lower pressure.
The air 'bending' around the sail, in this case a ball, causes one side to have a lower pressure than the other, and hence, the boat moves, and in your video, the ball moves from high to low pressure.
If can move your boat, it can certainly 'lift' the ball some.
Hey come to think of it- airplanes actually 'fly'
Add to it the fact that in this case the ball, was being accelerated by the force of gravity, without looking that up I seem to remember 9.82meters per second-squared- a big # in just a few seconds.
Nice, didn't amaze me however.
In fact, IMHO- it's really just an application of lift- Bernoullis' Principle. But that's just me..

I'm wondering if the thickness of the cylinder matters. Does a thicker one give more lift? How about the top/bottom aspect ratio? Is thinner better like with conventional sails? It also looks like it's very easy to put endplates on the cylinders. Another question. Would you want to make the surface of the cylinders as smooth as possible, or rough, or maybe dimples like on a golf ball?