91-407: In sports, backspin or underspin refers to the reverse rotation of a ball, in relation to the ball's trajectory, that is imparted on the ball by a slice or chop shot. Backspin generates an upward force that lifts the ball (see Magnus effect ). While a normal hit bounces well forward as well as up, backspin shots bounce higher and less forward. Backspin is the opposite of topspin . The technique
182-428: A downward swerve of a moving ball, greater than would be produced by gravity alone. Backspin produces an upwards force that prolongs the flight of a moving ball. Likewise side-spin causes swerve to either side as seen during some baseball pitches, e.g. slider . The overall behaviour is similar to that around an aerofoil (see lift force ), but with a circulation generated by mechanical rotation rather than shape of
273-446: A force perpendicular to the direction of travel. On a cylinder, the force due to rotation is an example of Kutta–Joukowski lift . It can be analysed in terms of the vortex produced by rotation. The lift per unit length of the cylinder L ′ {\displaystyle L^{\prime }} , is the product of the freestream velocity v ∞ {\displaystyle v_{\infty }} (in m/s),
364-420: A given airspeed depends on the shape of the airfoil, especially the amount of camber (curvature such that the upper surface is more convex than the lower surface, as illustrated at right). Increasing the camber generally increases the maximum lift at a given airspeed. Cambered airfoils generate lift at zero angle of attack. When the chord line is horizontal, the trailing edge has a downward direction and since
455-491: A larger radius than streamlines above the cylinder. This means there is higher pressure acting on the lower surface than on the upper. Air immediately above and below the cylinder is curving downwards, accelerated by the pressure gradient. A downwards force is acting on the air. Newton's third law predicts that the Magnus force and the downwards force acting on the air are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. The effect
546-436: A lift force roughly proportional to the angle of attack. As the angle of attack increases, the lift reaches a maximum at some angle; increasing the angle of attack beyond this critical angle of attack causes the upper-surface flow to separate from the wing; there is less deflection downward so the airfoil generates less lift. The airfoil is said to be stalled . The maximum lift force that can be generated by an airfoil at
637-463: A point is reached where the boundary layer can no longer remain attached to the upper surface. When the boundary layer separates, it leaves a region of recirculating flow above the upper surface, as illustrated in the flow-visualization photo at right. This is known as the stall , or stalling . At angles of attack above the stall, lift is significantly reduced, though it does not drop to zero. The maximum lift that can be achieved before stall, in terms of
728-485: A pressure difference, and that the speed difference then leads to a pressure difference, by Bernoulli's principle. This implied one-way causation is a misconception. The real relationship between pressure and flow speed is a mutual interaction . As explained below under a more comprehensive physical explanation , producing a lift force requires maintaining pressure differences in both the vertical and horizontal directions. The Bernoulli-only explanations do not explain how
819-401: A rotating cylinder mounted beneath the waterline and emerging laterally. By controlling the direction and speed of rotation, strong lift or downforce can be generated. The largest deployment of the system to date is in the motor yacht Eclipse . Lift (force)#Simplified physical explanations of lift on an airfoil When a fluid flows around an object, the fluid exerts a force on
910-406: A spinning bullet in flight is often subject to a crosswind , which can be simplified as blowing from either the left or the right. In addition to this, even in completely calm air a bullet experiences a small sideways wind component due to its yawing motion. This yawing motion along the bullet's flight path means that the nose of the bullet points in a slightly different direction from the direction
1001-417: A steady flow without viscosity, lower pressure means higher speed, and higher pressure means lower speed. Thus changes in flow direction and speed are directly caused by the non-uniform pressure. But this cause-and-effect relationship is not just one-way; it works in both directions simultaneously. The air's motion is affected by the pressure differences, but the existence of the pressure differences depends on
SECTION 10
#17328560142551092-412: A streamlined airfoil, and with somewhat higher drag. Most simplified explanations follow one of two basic approaches, based either on Newton's laws of motion or on Bernoulli's principle . An airfoil generates lift by exerting a downward force on the air as it flows past. According to Newton's third law , the air must exert an equal and opposite (upward) force on the airfoil, which is lift. As
1183-439: A wide area, producing a pattern called a velocity field . When an airfoil produces lift, the flow ahead of the airfoil is deflected upward, the flow above and below the airfoil is deflected downward leaving the air far behind the airfoil in the same state as the oncoming flow far ahead. The flow above the upper surface is sped up, while the flow below the airfoil is slowed down. Together with the upward deflection of air in front and
1274-401: A wing in a wind tunnel) or whether both are moving (e.g. a sailboat using the wind to move forward). Lift is the component of this force that is perpendicular to the oncoming flow direction. Lift is always accompanied by a drag force, which is the component of the surface force parallel to the flow direction. Lift is mostly associated with the wings of fixed-wing aircraft , although it
1365-407: Is a result of pressure differences and depends on angle of attack, airfoil shape, air density, and airspeed. Pressure is the normal force per unit area exerted by the air on itself and on surfaces that it touches. The lift force is transmitted through the pressure, which acts perpendicular to the surface of the airfoil. Thus, the net force manifests itself as pressure differences. The direction of
1456-409: Is air, the force is called an aerodynamic force . In water or any other liquid, it is called a hydrodynamic force . Dynamic lift is distinguished from other kinds of lift in fluids. Aerostatic lift or buoyancy , in which an internal fluid is lighter than the surrounding fluid, does not require movement and is used by balloons, blimps, dirigibles, boats, and submarines. Planing lift , in which only
1547-410: Is also an important factor in the study of the effects of spinning on guided missiles —and has some engineering uses, for instance in the design of rotor ships and Flettner airplanes . Topspin in ball games is defined as spin about a horizontal axis perpendicular to the direction of travel that moves the top surface of the ball in the direction of travel. Under the Magnus effect, topspin produces
1638-439: Is because the assumption of equal transit time is wrong when applied to a body generating lift. There is no physical principle that requires equal transit time in all situations and experimental results confirm that for a body generating lift the transit times are not equal. In fact, the air moving past the top of an airfoil generating lift moves much faster than equal transit time predicts. The much higher flow speed over
1729-503: Is difficult because the cause-and-effect relationships involved are subtle. A comprehensive explanation that captures all of the essential aspects is necessarily complex. There are also many simplified explanations , but all leave significant parts of the phenomenon unexplained, while some also have elements that are simply incorrect. An airfoil is a streamlined shape that is capable of generating significantly more lift than drag. A flat plate can generate lift, but not as much as
1820-414: Is enough backspin, the ball will "check" if it lands on the putting surface, and sometimes even creep backwards (in the opposite direction that the ball was flying) upon landing. Magnus effect The Magnus effect is a phenomenon that occurs when a spinning object is moving through a fluid . A lift force acts on the spinning object and its path may be deflected in a manner not present when it
1911-401: Is more widely generated by many other streamlined bodies such as propellers , kites , helicopter rotors , racing car wings , maritime sails , wind turbines , and by sailboat keels , ship's rudders , and hydrofoils in water. Lift is also used by flying and gliding animals , especially by birds , bats , and insects , and even in the plant world by the seeds of certain trees. While
SECTION 20
#17328560142552002-541: Is named after German physicist Heinrich Gustav Magnus who demonstrated the effect with a rapidly rotating brass cylinder and an air blower in 1852. In 1672, Isaac Newton had speculated on the effect after observing tennis players in his Cambridge college. In 1742, Benjamin Robins , a British mathematician, ballistics researcher, and military engineer, explained deviations in the trajectories of musket balls due to their rotation. Pioneering wind tunnel research on
2093-614: Is negligible. The lift force frequency is characterised by the dimensionless Strouhal number , which depends on the Reynolds number of the flow. For a flexible structure, this oscillatory lift force may induce vortex-induced vibrations. Under certain conditions – for instance resonance or strong spanwise correlation of the lift force – the resulting motion of the structure due to the lift fluctuations may be strongly enhanced. Such vibrations may pose problems and threaten collapse in tall man-made structures like industrial chimneys . In
2184-512: Is not spinning. The strength and direction of the Magnus effect is dependent on the speed and direction of the rotation of the object. The Magnus effect is named after Heinrich Gustav Magnus , the German physicist who investigated it. The force on a rotating cylinder is an example of Kutta–Joukowski lift, named after Martin Kutta and Nikolay Zhukovsky (or Joukowski), mathematicians who contributed to
2275-404: Is proportional to the density of the air and approximately proportional to the square of the flow speed. Lift also depends on the size of the wing, being generally proportional to the wing's area projected in the lift direction. In calculations it is convenient to quantify lift in terms of a lift coefficient based on these factors. No matter how smooth the surface of an airfoil seems, any surface
2366-409: Is rough on the scale of air molecules. Air molecules flying into the surface bounce off the rough surface in random directions relative to their original velocities. The result is that when the air is viewed as a continuous material, it is seen to be unable to slide along the surface, and the air's velocity relative to the airfoil decreases to nearly zero at the surface (i.e., the air molecules "stick" to
2457-406: Is the same so velocities are also the same at the two points. Bernoulli’s principle shows that, outside the boundary layers , pressures are also the same at corresponding points. There is no lift acting on the cylinder. Streamlines are closer spaced immediately above the cylinder than below, so the air flows faster past the upper surface than past the lower surface. Bernoulli’s principle shows that
2548-428: Is tilted with respect to the vertical. Lift may also act as downforce on the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft at the top of an aerobatic loop , and on the horizontal stabiliser of an aircraft. Lift may also be largely horizontal, for instance on a sailing ship. The lift discussed in this article is mainly in relation to airfoils, although marine hydrofoils and propellers share the same physical principles and work in
2639-625: The Magnus effect , a lift force is generated by a spinning cylinder in a freestream. Here the mechanical rotation acts on the boundary layer, causing it to separate at different locations on the two sides of the cylinder. The asymmetric separation changes the effective shape of the cylinder as far as the flow is concerned such that the cylinder acts like a lifting airfoil with circulation in the outer flow. As described above under " Simplified physical explanations of lift on an airfoil ", there are two main popular explanations: one based on downward deflection of
2730-446: The streamline curvature theorem , was derived from Newton's second law by Leonhard Euler in 1754: The left side of this equation represents the pressure difference perpendicular to the fluid flow. On the right side of the equation, ρ is the density, v is the velocity, and R is the radius of curvature. This formula shows that higher velocities and tighter curvatures create larger pressure differentials and that for straight flow (R → ∞),
2821-549: The "Coandă effect" is applicable, calling it the "Coandă effect" does not provide an explanation, it just gives the phenomenon a name. The ability of a fluid flow to follow a curved path is not dependent on shear forces, viscosity of the fluid, or the presence of a boundary layer. Air flowing around an airfoil, adhering to both upper and lower surfaces, and generating lift, is accepted as a phenomenon in inviscid flow. There are two common versions of this explanation, one based on "equal transit time", and one based on "obstruction" of
Backspin - Misplaced Pages Continue
2912-422: The Magnus effect is easily observed, because of the small mass and low density of the ball. An experienced player can place a wide variety of spins on the ball. Table tennis rackets usually have a surface made of rubber to give the racket maximum grip on the ball to impart a spin. In cricket , the Magnus effect contributes to the types of motion known as drift , dip and lift in spin bowling , depending on
3003-440: The Magnus effect was carried out with smooth rotating spheres in 1928. Lyman Briggs later studied baseballs in a wind tunnel, and others have produced images of the effect. The studies show that a turbulent wake behind the spinning ball causes aerodynamic drag, plus there is a noticeable angular deflection in the wake, and this deflection is in the direction of spin. The Magnus effect explains commonly observed deviations from
3094-435: The Magnus force from the crosswind would cause an upward or downward force to act on the spinning bullet (depending on the left or right wind and rotation), causing deflection of the bullet's flight path up or down, thus influencing the point of impact. Overall, the effect of the Magnus force on a bullet's flight path itself is usually insignificant compared to other forces such as aerodynamic drag . However, it greatly affects
3185-439: The air follows the trailing edge it is deflected downward. When a cambered airfoil is upside down, the angle of attack can be adjusted so that the lift force is upward. This explains how a plane can fly upside down. The ambient flow conditions which affect lift include the fluid density, viscosity and speed of flow. Density is affected by temperature, and by the medium's acoustic velocity – i.e. by compressibility effects. Lift
3276-418: The air's motion. The relationship is thus a mutual, or reciprocal, interaction: Air flow changes speed or direction in response to pressure differences, and the pressure differences are sustained by the air's resistance to changing speed or direction. A pressure difference can exist only if something is there for it to push against. In aerodynamic flow, the pressure difference pushes against the air's inertia, as
3367-411: The airflow approaches the airfoil it is curving upward, but as it passes the airfoil it changes direction and follows a path that is curved downward. According to Newton's second law, this change in flow direction requires a downward force applied to the air by the airfoil. Then Newton's third law requires the air to exert an upward force on the airfoil; thus a reaction force, lift, is generated opposite to
3458-400: The airflow. The "equal transit time" explanation starts by arguing that the flow over the upper surface is faster than the flow over the lower surface because the path length over the upper surface is longer and must be traversed in equal transit time. Bernoulli's principle states that under certain conditions increased flow speed is associated with reduced pressure. It is concluded that
3549-490: The airfoil and behind also indicate that air passing through the low-pressure region above the airfoil is sped up as it enters, and slowed back down as it leaves. Air passing through the high-pressure region below the airfoil is slowed down as it enters and then sped back up as it leaves. Thus the non-uniform pressure is also the cause of the changes in flow speed visible in the flow animation. The changes in flow speed are consistent with Bernoulli's principle , which states that in
3640-458: The airfoil can impart downward turning to a much deeper swath of the flow than it actually touches. Furthermore, it does not mention that the lift force is exerted by pressure differences , and does not explain how those pressure differences are sustained. Some versions of the flow-deflection explanation of lift cite the Coandă effect as the reason the flow is able to follow the convex upper surface of
3731-408: The airfoil is pushed outward from the center of the high-pressure region. According to Newton's second law , a force causes air to accelerate in the direction of the force. Thus the vertical arrows in the accompanying pressure field diagram indicate that air above and below the airfoil is accelerated, or turned downward, and that the non-uniform pressure is thus the cause of the downward deflection of
Backspin - Misplaced Pages Continue
3822-429: The airfoil's surfaces. Pressure in a fluid is always positive in an absolute sense, so that pressure must always be thought of as pushing, and never as pulling. The pressure thus pushes inward on the airfoil everywhere on both the upper and lower surfaces. The flowing air reacts to the presence of the wing by reducing the pressure on the wing's upper surface and increasing the pressure on the lower surface. The pressure on
3913-454: The airfoil. The conventional definition in the aerodynamics field is that the Coandă effect refers to the tendency of a fluid jet to stay attached to an adjacent surface that curves away from the flow, and the resultant entrainment of ambient air into the flow. More broadly, some consider the effect to include the tendency of any fluid boundary layer to adhere to a curved surface, not just
4004-494: The amount of constriction or obstruction do not predict experimental results. Another flaw is that conservation of mass is not a satisfying physical reason why the flow would speed up. Effectively explaining the acceleration of an object requires identifying the force that accelerates it. A serious flaw common to all the Bernoulli-based explanations is that they imply that a speed difference can arise from causes other than
4095-401: The axis of rotation of the spin applied to the ball. The Magnus effect is not responsible for the movement seen in conventional swing bowling , in which the pressure gradient is not caused by the ball's spin, but rather by its raised seam, and the asymmetric roughness or smoothness of its two halves; however, the Magnus effect may be responsible for so-called "Malinga Swing", as observed in
4186-429: The ball away from a straight line in its trajectory. Backspin (upper surface rotating backwards from the direction of movement) on a golf ball causes a vertical force that counteracts the force of gravity slightly, and enables the ball to remain airborne a little longer than it would were the ball not spinning: this allows the ball to travel farther than a ball not spinning about its horizontal axis. In table tennis ,
4277-455: The boundary layer accompanying a fluid jet. It is in this broader sense that the Coandă effect is used by some popular references to explain why airflow remains attached to the top side of an airfoil. This is a controversial use of the term "Coandă effect"; the flow following the upper surface simply reflects an absence of boundary-layer separation, thus it is not an example of the Coandă effect. Regardless of whether this broader definition of
4368-424: The boundary layer between the object and the fluid. The force is perpendicular to the relative direction of motion and oriented towards the direction of rotation, i.e. the direction the "nose" of the ball is turning towards. The magnitude of the force depends primarily on the rotation rate, the relative velocity, and the geometry of the body; the magnitude also depends upon the body's surface roughness and viscosity of
4459-399: The bowling of the swing bowler Lasith Malinga . In airsoft , a system known as hop-up is used to create a backspin on a fired BB , which greatly increases its range, using the Magnus effect in a similar manner as in golf. In baseball , pitchers often impart different spins on the ball, causing it to curve in the desired direction due to the Magnus effect. The PITCHf/x system measures
4550-450: The bullet travels. In other words, the bullet "skids" sideways at any given moment, and thus experiences a small sideways wind component in addition to any crosswind component. The combined sideways wind component of these two effects causes a Magnus force to act on the bullet, which is perpendicular both to the direction the bullet is pointing and the combined sideways wind. In a very simple case where we ignore various complicating factors,
4641-425: The bullet's stability, which in turn affects the amount of drag, how the bullet behaves upon impact, and many other factors. The stability of the bullet is affected, because the Magnus effect acts on the bullet's centre of pressure instead of its centre of gravity . This means that it affects the yaw angle of the bullet; it tends to twist the bullet along its flight path, either towards the axis of flight (decreasing
SECTION 50
#17328560142554732-481: The change in trajectory caused by Magnus in all pitches thrown in Major League Baseball . The match ball for the 2010 FIFA World Cup has been criticised for the different Magnus effect from previous match balls. The ball was described as having less Magnus effect and as a result flies farther but with less controllable swerve. The Magnus effect can also be found in advanced external ballistics . First,
4823-400: The common meaning of the word " lift " assumes that lift opposes weight, lift can be in any direction with respect to gravity, since it is defined with respect to the direction of flow rather than to the direction of gravity. When an aircraft is cruising in straight and level flight, the lift opposes gravity. However, when an aircraft is climbing , descending , or banking in a turn the lift
4914-415: The directional change. In the case of an airplane wing, the wing exerts a downward force on the air and the air exerts an upward force on the wing. The downward turning of the flow is not produced solely by the lower surface of the airfoil, and the air flow above the airfoil accounts for much of the downward-turning action. This explanation is correct but it is incomplete. It does not explain how
5005-421: The downward deflection of the air immediately behind, this establishes a net circulatory component of the flow. The downward deflection and the changes in flow speed are pronounced and extend over a wide area, as can be seen in the flow animation on the right. These differences in the direction and speed of the flow are greatest close to the airfoil and decrease gradually far above and below. All of these features of
5096-422: The downward turning, but this is false. (see above under " Controversy regarding the Coandă effect "). The arrows ahead of the airfoil indicate that the flow ahead of the airfoil is deflected upward, and the arrows behind the airfoil indicate that the flow behind is deflected upward again, after being deflected downward over the airfoil. These deflections are also visible in the flow animation. The arrows ahead of
5187-443: The effect is destabilizing; if the centre of pressure is behind the centre of gravity, the effect is stabilising. Some aircraft have been built to use the Magnus effect to create lift with a rotating cylinder instead of a wing, allowing flight at lower horizontal speeds. The earliest attempt to use the Magnus effect for a heavier-than-air aircraft was in 1910 by a US member of Congress, Butler Ames of Massachusetts. The next attempt
5278-414: The flow (Newton's laws), and one based on pressure differences accompanied by changes in flow speed (Bernoulli's principle). Either of these, by itself, correctly identifies some aspects of the lifting flow but leaves other important aspects of the phenomenon unexplained. A more comprehensive explanation involves both downward deflection and pressure differences (including changes in flow speed associated with
5369-409: The flow visible in the flow animation. To produce this downward turning, the airfoil must have a positive angle of attack or have sufficient positive camber. Note that the downward turning of the flow over the upper surface is the result of the air being pushed downward by higher pressure above it than below it. Some explanations that refer to the "Coandă effect" suggest that viscosity plays a key role in
5460-401: The fluid density ρ ∞ {\displaystyle \rho _{\infty }} (in kg/m ), and circulation Γ {\displaystyle \Gamma } due to viscous effects: where the vortex strength (assuming that the surrounding fluid obeys the no-slip condition ) is given by where ω is the angular velocity of the cylinder (in rad/s) and r is
5551-429: The fluid. Accurate quantitative predictions of the force are difficult, but as with other examples of aerodynamic lift there are simpler, qualitative explanations : The diagram shows lift being produced on a back-spinning ball. The wake and trailing air-flow have been deflected downwards; according to Newton's third law of motion there must be a reaction force in the opposite direction. The air's viscosity and
SECTION 60
#17328560142555642-423: The foil. In baseball, this effect is used to generate the downward motion of a curveball, in which the baseball is rotating forward (with 'topspin'). Participants in other sports played with a ball also take advantage of this effect. The Magnus effect or Magnus force acts on a rotating body moving relative to a fluid. Examples include a " curve ball " in baseball or a tennis ball hit obliquely. The rotation alters
5733-426: The knowledge of how lift is generated in a fluid flow. The most readily observable case of the Magnus effect is when a spinning sphere (or cylinder) curves away from the arc it would follow if it were not spinning. It is often used by football ( soccer ) and volleyball players, baseball pitchers, and cricket bowlers. Consequently, the phenomenon is important in the study of the physics of many ball sports . It
5824-410: The lift by a modest amount and modifies the pressure distribution somewhat, which results in a viscosity-related pressure drag over and above the skin friction drag. The total of the skin friction drag and the viscosity-related pressure drag is usually called the profile drag . An airfoil's maximum lift at a given airspeed is limited by boundary-layer separation . As the angle of attack is increased,
5915-421: The lift coefficient, is generally less than 1.5 for single-element airfoils and can be more than 3.0 for airfoils with high-lift slotted flaps and leading-edge devices deployed. The flow around bluff bodies – i.e. without a streamlined shape, or stalling airfoils – may also generate lift, in addition to a strong drag force. This lift may be steady, or it may oscillate due to vortex shedding . Interaction of
6006-400: The lower portion of the body is immersed in a liquid flow, is used by motorboats, surfboards, windsurfers, sailboats, and water-skis. A fluid flowing around the surface of a solid object applies a force on it. It does not matter whether the object is moving through a stationary fluid (e.g. an aircraft flying through the air) or whether the object is stationary and the fluid is moving (e.g.
6097-403: The lower surface pushes up harder than the reduced pressure on the upper surface pushes down, and the net result is upward lift. The pressure difference which results in lift acts directly on the airfoil surfaces; however, understanding how the pressure difference is produced requires understanding what the flow does over a wider area. An airfoil affects the speed and direction of the flow over
6188-494: The net force implies that the average pressure on the upper surface of the airfoil is lower than the average pressure on the underside. These pressure differences arise in conjunction with the curved airflow. When a fluid follows a curved path, there is a pressure gradient perpendicular to the flow direction with higher pressure on the outside of the curve and lower pressure on the inside. This direct relationship between curved streamlines and pressure differences, sometimes called
6279-413: The object's flexibility with the vortex shedding may enhance the effects of fluctuating lift and cause vortex-induced vibrations . For instance, the flow around a circular cylinder generates a Kármán vortex street : vortices being shed in an alternating fashion from the cylinder's sides. The oscillatory nature of the flow produces a fluctuating lift force on the cylinder, even though the net (mean) force
6370-420: The object. Lift is the component of this force that is perpendicular to the oncoming flow direction. It contrasts with the drag force, which is the component of the force parallel to the flow direction. Lift conventionally acts in an upward direction in order to counter the force of gravity , but it is defined to act perpendicular to the flow and therefore can act in any direction. If the surrounding fluid
6461-415: The opposite court, they may be more difficult to attack. This is especially important in table tennis because one must wait for the ball to bounce before hitting it, whereas in tennis the opponent may volley the ball. In golf, a well-struck shot will result in a large amount of backspin that will carry the ball higher into the air and further. Backspin will also help with distance control and, if there
6552-408: The pressure adjacent to the upper surface is lower than the pressure adjacent to the lower surface. The Magnus force acts vertically upwards on the cylinder. Streamlines immediately above the cylinder are curved with radius little more than the radius of the cylinder. This means there is low pressure close to the upper surface of the cylinder. Streamlines immediately below the cylinder are curved with
6643-422: The pressure difference is zero. The angle of attack is the angle between the chord line of an airfoil and the oncoming airflow. A symmetrical airfoil generates zero lift at zero angle of attack. But as the angle of attack increases, the air is deflected through a larger angle and the vertical component of the airstream velocity increases, resulting in more lift. For small angles, a symmetrical airfoil generates
6734-435: The pressure differences in the vertical direction are sustained. That is, they leave out the flow-deflection part of the interaction. Although the two simple Bernoulli-based explanations above are incorrect, there is nothing incorrect about Bernoulli's principle or the fact that the air goes faster on the top of the wing, and Bernoulli's principle can be used correctly as part of a more complicated explanation of lift. Lift
6825-405: The pressure differences), and requires looking at the flow in more detail. The airfoil shape and angle of attack work together so that the airfoil exerts a downward force on the air as it flows past. According to Newton's third law, the air must then exert an equal and opposite (upward) force on the airfoil, which is the lift. The net force exerted by the air occurs as a pressure difference over
6916-402: The radius of the cylinder (in m). In wind tunnel studies, (rough surfaced) baseballs show the Magnus effect, but smooth spheres do not. Further study has shown that certain combinations of conditions result in turbulence in the fluid on one side of the rotating body but laminar flow on the other side. In these cases are called the inverse Magnus effect: the deflection is opposite to that of
7007-428: The reduced pressure over the upper surface results in upward lift. While it is true that the flow speeds up, a serious flaw in this explanation is that it does not correctly explain what causes the flow to speed up. The longer-path-length explanation is incorrect. No difference in path length is needed, and even when there is a difference, it is typically much too small to explain the observed speed difference. This
7098-507: The same way, despite differences between air and water such as density, compressibility, and viscosity. The flow around a lifting airfoil is a fluid mechanics phenomenon that can be understood on essentially two levels: There are mathematical theories , which are based on established laws of physics and represent the flow accurately, but which require solving equations. And there are physical explanations without math, which are less rigorous. Correctly explaining lift in these qualitative terms
7189-406: The streamlines to pinch closer together, making the streamtubes narrower. When streamtubes become narrower, conservation of mass requires that flow speed must increase. Reduced upper-surface pressure and upward lift follow from the higher speed by Bernoulli's principle , just as in the equal transit time explanation. Sometimes an analogy is made to a venturi nozzle , claiming the upper surface of
7280-432: The surface instead of sliding along it), something known as the no-slip condition . Because the air at the surface has near-zero velocity but the air away from the surface is moving, there is a thin boundary layer in which air close to the surface is subjected to a shearing motion. The air's viscosity resists the shearing, giving rise to a shear stress at the airfoil's surface called skin friction drag . Over most of
7371-416: The surface is just part of this pressure field. The non-uniform pressure exerts forces on the air in the direction from higher pressure to lower pressure. The direction of the force is different at different locations around the airfoil, as indicated by the block arrows in the pressure field around an airfoil figure. Air above the airfoil is pushed toward the center of the low-pressure region, and air below
7462-428: The surface of most airfoils, the boundary layer is naturally turbulent, which increases skin friction drag. Under usual flight conditions, the boundary layer remains attached to both the upper and lower surfaces all the way to the trailing edge, and its effect on the rest of the flow is modest. Compared to the predictions of inviscid flow theory, in which there is no boundary layer, the attached boundary layer reduces
7553-409: The surface roughness of the object cause the air to be carried around the object. This adds to the air velocity on one side of the object and decreases the velocity on the other side. Bernoulli's principle states that under certain conditions increased flow speed is associated with reduced pressure, implying that there is lower air pressure on one side than the other. This pressure difference results in
7644-422: The typical Magnus effect. Potential flow is a mathematical model of the steady flow of a fluid with no viscosity or vorticity present. For potential flow around a circular cylinder, it provides the following results: The flow pattern is symmetric about a horizontal axis through the centre of the cylinder. At each point above the axis and its corresponding point below the axis, the spacing of streamlines
7735-427: The typical trajectories or paths of spinning balls in sport , notably association football , table tennis , tennis , volleyball , golf , baseball , and cricket . The curved path of a golf ball known as slice or hook is largely due to the ball's spin axis being tilted away from the horizontal due to the combined effects of club face angle and swing path, causing the Magnus effect to act at an angle, moving
7826-414: The upper surface can be clearly seen in this animated flow visualization . Like the equal transit time explanation, the "obstruction" or "streamtube pinching" explanation argues that the flow over the upper surface is faster than the flow over the lower surface, but gives a different reason for the difference in speed. It argues that the curved upper surface acts as more of an obstacle to the flow, forcing
7917-445: The velocity field also appear in theoretical models for lifting flows. The pressure is also affected over a wide area, in a pattern of non-uniform pressure called a pressure field . When an airfoil produces lift, there is a diffuse region of low pressure above the airfoil, and usually a diffuse region of high pressure below, as illustrated by the isobars (curves of constant pressure) in the drawing. The pressure difference that acts on
8008-525: The wing acts like a venturi nozzle to constrict the flow. One serious flaw in the obstruction explanation is that it does not explain how streamtube pinching comes about, or why it is greater over the upper surface than the lower surface. For conventional wings that are flat on the bottom and curved on top this makes some intuitive sense, but it does not explain how flat plates, symmetric airfoils, sailboat sails, or conventional airfoils flying upside down can generate lift, and attempts to calculate lift based on
8099-417: The yaw thus stabilising the bullet) or away from the axis of flight (increasing the yaw thus destabilising the bullet). The critical factor is the location of the centre of pressure, which depends on the flowfield structure, which in turn depends mainly on the bullet's speed (supersonic or subsonic), but also the shape, air density and surface features. If the centre of pressure is ahead of the centre of gravity,
8190-496: Was in the early 1930s by three inventors in New York state. Rotor ships use mast-like cylinders, called Flettner rotors , for propulsion. These are mounted vertically on the ship's deck. When the wind blows from the side, the Magnus effect creates a forward thrust. Thus, as with any sailing ship, a rotor ship can only move forwards when there is a wind blowing. The effect is also used in a special type of ship stabilizer consisting of
8281-534: Was invented in 1986 by a Robert Esperat during the Calgary Olympics. In racket sports, the higher bounce imparted by backspin may make a receiver who has prepared for a different shot miss or mis-hit the ball when swinging. A backspin shot is also useful for defensive shots because a backspin shot takes longer to travel to the opponent, giving the defender more time to get back into position. Also, because backspin shots tend to bounce less far forward once they reach
#254745