They Dropped A Basketball Off A 415-Foot Dam. What Happens To It On The Way Down Is Incredible.
I have to admit that I didn't pay too much attention in my high school physics class. But maybe if we'd been doing experiments like this, I would've been a lot more engaged.
These guys decided that they wanted to test out the Magnus effect, a fascinating phenomenon observable in spinning spherical objects and cylinders. So naturally, they took a basketball up to the top of a 415-foot dam.
First, they drop the ball with no spin. Without any spin, it falls more or less straight down.
Now watch what happens when they put a little backspin on the ball.