61.1M views · Jul 15, 2015 · 3:01 · 3 HN recommenders · 5 mentions · discussed 2015–2021
A short Veritasium video showing how far a backspinning basketball would travel dropped off a dam. It demonstrates the Magnus effect and links to Flettner rotor ships and aircraft.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN uses it as a quick, clear demonstration of the Magnus effect behind spinning-cylinder ships and planes.
“There's a great Veritasium video explaining the Magnus effect and the Flettner rotor here”HN comment, 2020
“There's a decent video by Veritasium about the Magnus Effect”
Decent Veritasium explanation of Magnus effect and backspin lift
There's a decent video by Veritasium about the Magnus Effect, where the bomb is essentially given lift by its backspin: this video
“There's a great Veritasium video explaining the Magnus effect and the Flettner rotor here”
Great Veritasium explanation of Magnus effect and Flettner rotor
There's a great Veritasium video explaining the Magnus effect and the Flettner rotor here: this video The Norsepower company (which installs Flettner rotors on ships) also has a short video explaining the effect here link
“There is a really nice demonstration of the effect in this video”
Really nice demonstration of the effect
I'm not an expert on it really. They rotate the giant cylinder and the wind is blowing by. The rotation forms a low pressure zone one side of the cylinder which acts as a lift force perpendicular both to the rotational axis of the cylinder and the wind. It's the same effect which "turns" a soccer ball if you kick it with a spin. There is a really nice demonstration of the effect in this video: this video This wikipedia page has a way better summary than my attempt above: link
Cited as explanation of the Magnus effect for Flettner aeroplane
My favorite is the Flettner aeroplane since it uses the Magnus effect [1][2] as it generates lift without a wing. Screenshot linked in the original post [3]. [1] link [2] this video [3] link
“This is the video they reference at the end that elaborates and shows off the use in ships”
Video elaborating on spinning cylinders for ships and planes
This is the video they reference at the end that elaborates and shows off the use in ships, as well as some planes that have spinning cylinders instead of wings: this video
