How Can Soccer Players Bend Their Shots in Midair?
With the talent on tap, World Cup 2026 is sure to serve up plenty of jaw-dropping kicks, like a ball that curves in midair to go around a defender, or a shot on goal that swerves away from where the keeper thought it was headed. How is this possible? What wizardry enables a striker to change the ball’s trajectory after it leaves their foot?
It’s not magic, it’s fluid dynamics, the behavior of objects in a fluid—and air is considered a fluid, since it flows. (Kids, want to be a real-life FIFA hero? Take physics.) To really understand what’s going on, let’s model the motion of a ball, starting with the simplest and silliest scenario, then adding back elements of reality one at a time.
Soccer in Space
Why would you play soccer in space? Well, if you’ve seen the ticket prices for this year’s tournament, you might think it’s...
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