Magnus Effect
A spinning ball drags the air around itself, deflecting its wake to one side — and the ball gets pushed the other way. This simulator flies a ball under gravity, quadratic drag and the Magnus force F = S(ω×v), and draws the trajectory against two references: the drag-only flight and the vacuum parabola. Choose backspin (lift), topspin (dive) or sidespin (curve), and set speed, angle, spin rate, air density, ball mass and radius. Sport presets load the classics: a soccer free kick bending around the wall, a tennis topspin loop that dives onto the baseline, a table-tennis loop, a golf drive whose backspin carries it far beyond the vacuum parabola, and a baseball curveball. Readouts give carry, peak height, flight time and sideways deflection.
Runs 100% in your browser — simulations are computed locally on your device.
Read the full guide to this tool
Notes
- Backspin makes the air over the top move with the spin, shifting the wake downward and lifting the ball: a well-struck golf drive flies farther in air than it would in vacuum — drag loses to backspin lift.
- Topspin does the opposite: the ball dives early, which is what lets tennis players hit hard and still land the ball in — and what snaps a curveball down across the plate.
- The lift is modelled as F = ½ρAR·(ω×v), a lift coefficient equal to the spin parameter Rω/v capped at 0.5 where real lift curves saturate; the drag coefficient is a constant 0.47 sphere value. Honest simplifications — real balls add seams, dimples and drag crises.
- Air density matters: thin air at altitude weakens both drag and Magnus force, which is why balls fly farther and curve less in Denver or Mexico City.
- Runs 100% in your browser — simulations are computed locally on your device.
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