Terminal Velocity of the Fuel Balls

[Dan Waxman]

Originally Posted by Ether

[EDIT] Thinking back to my boyhood, I seem to recall that Wiffle balls exhibit a profound Magnus effect. Topspin and backspin can dramatically affect the flight path. This makes the data collection and modeling quite a bit more difficult and contentious.

I wonder if that's because of the holes in general or the fact that wiffle balls only have holes on one side. With holes more evenly spaced, it might make a difference, though I'm not entirely sure.

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by Ether

[EDIT] Thinking back to my boyhood, I seem to recall that Wiffle balls exhibit a profound Magnus effect. Topspin and backspin can dramatically affect the flight path. This makes the data collection and modeling quite a bit more difficult and contentious.

We did specific testing to see if spin affected ball trajectory on the order of what a wiffle ball does, and these balls are not affected in the same way as wiffle balls.

I opine that the uniform distribution of holes does not enable the very interesting aerodynamic effects that make wiffle balls so darn wiffly.

For reference.

[17gecklerm]

Team 4926 conducted a ball drop experiment to measure the terminal velocity of the fuel balls. We confirm a terminal velocity of 10.16 m/s (33 ft/s). From this we calculated the drag coefficient to be 0.45. Thanks Ether for the help! If you want to see our video you can find it on our Facebook Page (Columbus Robotics) or through this link.

https://www.facebook.com/Columbus-Ro...5539754895807/

Mackenzie

[electroken]

Originally Posted by Dan Waxman

I wonder if that's because of the holes in general or the fact that wiffle balls only have holes on one side. With holes more evenly spaced, it might make a difference, though I'm not entirely sure.

Your thoughts are exactly right. REAL Wiffle balls (manufactured 1 mile from where I now sit) were specifically designed to curve, and that's why the holes are only on one side.