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Name: Bill
Status: other
Age: 19
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 1999
Question:
Why does a spiral on a football make the football go farther and straighter?

Replies:
The spiral prevents the football from tumbling as it travels, for the same reason a gyroscope is difficult to reorient when it is rotating. If a football tumbles, its aerodynamics are not optimal and it suffers from wind resistance.

Tim Mooney


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