12. How can I learn about billiard physics?
Description
This article is from the Pool & Billiards FAQ, by Bob Jewett with numerous contributions by others.
12. How can I learn about billiard physics?
There are several books available that discuss the physics of balls on
cloth struck by pointed sticks. A fairly non-technical treatment is in
Jack Koehler's "The Science of Pocket Billiards". It has many good
observations and plausible explanations but no real theory or
equations. For the latter, get Wayland Marlow's "The Physics of Pocket
Billiards" which has great steaming piles of equations. Marlow died
in September, 2002
A 100-page online discussion is in Ron Shepard's "Amateur Physics
for the Amateur Pool Player" available at the download section of
PlayPool.com at http://www.playpool.com/download.php and at
http://www.sfbilliards.com/shepard_apapp.pdf Also available at
playpool.com and at http://www.sfbilliards.com/shepard_squirt.pdf
is Shepard's 19-page analysis of the causes of squirt. These
include theory and equations and diagrams, along with useful
worked examples.
If you have access to a college physics library, many "mechanics" texts
from around 1900 have entire chapters devoted to billiards physics
(Williamson or Routh). The granddaddy in this field is a 176-page book
by Coriolis (1835) in French. It has recently been republished by
Jacques GABAY in Paris, ISBN 2-87647-081-0. A recent book in French is
"Billard - Theorie du Jeu", ISBN 2-7027-0573-1, by Regis PETIT,
published by Editions CHIRON/CASTEILLA, 128 pp., price: 98FF. In
Canada, available from PROLOG (Bois-Briand QUEBEC), for $31.95 It
contains material for the player as well as the theoretician.
Some results of recent measurements:
The tip is on the ball for about one thousandth of a second. During
this time the ball moves no more than a few millimeters on a typical
shot. It is unlikely that the grip hand can have much effect on the
shot during this brief time. The tip has only one contact with the ball.
The fastest cue ball reported (shot by a martial arts student)
was about 35MPH (15.6 meters/second). More typical break speeds
are around 20MPH. The energy in the ball goes up with the
square of the speed, so the first is about three times as
energetic as the typical break.
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