This forces the air to flow over a larger portion of the ball, which results in a much smoother ball flight. Finally, golf balls have dimples for the purpose of lift. As much as half of the lift a golf ball receives is caused by a backwards spinning motion. When a ball spins backwards, the air pressure underneath it is greater than above it, so the ball rises in the air.
The invention of golf ball dimples happened accidentally. In the mids, the most widely-used golf balls were known as gutties, which were first created by Robert Adams Paterson using molded tree sap. When golfers inevitably dinged up these balls, they found that the damaged ones had more consistent ball flights than the new, undamaged balls. After that discovery, golf ball makers began etching raised protrusions into balls. In the early s, another inventor found that indentations in golf balls performed far better than raised protrusions.
In , an English manufacturer named William Taylor registered a patent for a golf ball dimple design. Before long, all golf balls featured dimples that would be more or less recognizable today.
A dimpled ball thus has about half the drag of a smooth ball. Dimples also affect lift. A smooth ball with backspin creates lift by warping the airflow such that the ball acts like an airplane's wing. The spinning action makes the air pressure on the bottom of the ball higher than the air pressure on the top; this imbalance creates an upward force on the ball. Ball spin contributes about one half of a golf ball's lift.
The other half is provided by the dimples, which allow for optimization of the lift force. Answer originally posted January 5, Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Aug 31, Thanks for asking, c! This Wonder was published in and last updated in The Bashers Sep 20, The information you gave us was very cool information.
Once we cut open two golf balls in half and made a new golf ball. Each size had different size of dimple. I am a golfer and I agree to your information about the dimple on a golf ball.
How many times did you count the golf balls to find the average numbers of dimple on a golf ball? Wonderopolis Sep 20, Feb 28, CAge Feb 24, Related Wonders for You to Explore Match its definition: a chad that has been punched or dimpled but all four corners are still attached. Word Match Congratulations! Share results. Play Again Quit. Be the first to know! This is magnified by dimples helping the ball travel higher. Essentially golf balls without dimples are much harder to control as they move through the air inconsistently because of how the air flows over the smooth surface.
The number of golf ball dimples varies depending on manufacturer and make but is usually between and Hence why the dimples on the new Mizuno ball have caused intrigue. Dimple volume even varies within brands for examples the Pro V1 has dimples compared to on the Pro V1x.
The Rules of Golf require dimples to be symmetrical to stop the ball wobbling or flying sideways as the ball spins.
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