Oblique impact of a spinning rubber ball

Abstract

Measurements are presented on the oblique impact of a hollow rubber ball incident with spin on a polished granite surface. When incident with substantial backspin there is a large decrease in the horizontal ball speed and a large change in the spin of the ball. When incident with substantial topspin, there is only a small decrease in the horizontal speed and only a small change in ball spin. The impulse due to the friction force is therefore a strong function of the incident spin. The measured impulse determines if and when a transition from a sliding to a grip phase occurs. The line of action of the normal reaction force acts behind the centre of mass when the ball is incident with backspin, and ahead of the centre of mass when the ball is incident without spin or with topspin.

Elastic deformation of a bouncing ball

“…The bounce models described in [6] and [7] are supported by detailed measurements of the rebound speed, spin and angle for a variety of different balls [8][9][10][11][12][13][14], all providing evidence that a ball can overspin without losing its grip on the bounce surface. Neither the models nor the experimental results provide any clues as to the mechanism involved, apart from the fact that it involves horizontal deformation of some sort.…”