How to bend a soccer ball past defenders and into the net
JUN 24, 2010
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.024448
Physics Today : In Thursday’s World Cup match between Denmark and Japan,Japan’s Keisuke Honda curled a free kick over a wall of defenders pastthe outstretched hand of Danish goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen and into thenet. Honda’s goal demonstrated how soccer players can alter the ball’strajectory by exploiting the Magnus effect. In the Quick Study in the Julyissue of Physics Today, John Eric Goff, a physics professor at LynchburgCollege in Virginia, describes the physics behind bending it likeHonda.
© 2010 American Institute of Physics
