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Researchers at Yamagata University in Japan are using
finite-element analysis to simulate how people kick
footballs. This illustration shows the deformation on a
leg and ball, ranging from pink (the lowest) through
blue, green and yellow to red (the highest). These
studies have confirmed what most footballers know. If
you kick the ball slightly off-centre with the front of
your foot - and with your ankle bent into the shape of
an "L" - the ball will curve in flight. This
causes the applied force to act as a torque, which gives
the ball a spin, enabling the Magnus effect to come into
play.
First published in Physics World magazine, June 1998
pp25--27. http://physicsweb.org/article/world/11/6/8
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