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spheres and trajectories
Wednesday, August 13th, 2014 11:39 pmToday is a day; I'm away as they say. Up north.
Played* a bit of pool again. When I do, I always have the feeling that I'm not quite understanding the geometries involved, which good pool players do instinctively. Such as exactly where to hit the ball to get it to go in a certain direction. Intellectually I know where the ball would need to be hit, but in practice I can't distinguish much other than aiming the cue ball at the center of the target ball, or slightly to either side. I'm not skilled enough to see the difference in where to hit it to get it to go 10 degrees versus 30 degrees to the side, for example. And should I try to aim the center of the cue ball for that location, or should I try to aim so that the side of the cue ball hits the other ball?
Just now thinking about it again, I realize (or theorize?) that really there's only 45 degrees left or right of center that you could cause the ball to move, when hitting it directly with the cue ball. Right? You can't make it go 90 degrees or even 80 degrees left of center, right? Or maybe you can after all, when hitting it with the side of the cue ball?
Wait. The only place you can hit with the center of the cue ball is the center of the other ball, on the direct line between them. So for all other angles, you *have* to hit the other ball with the side of the cue ball. But then I get confused, as I have to consider which part of the target ball I should hit, plus which part of the cue ball should hit it, and then how should I hit the cue ball to get that to happen.
I'm pretty sure I researched this before, but I seem not to remember whatever I learned before. And as I'm not likely to be shooting much pool in the future, I don't have enough incentive to look it up again.
* I suppose it sounds better to say shooting pool, not playing. But would the past tense be "shot pool"?
I need to go to bed, as we are going to the Cape Cod Canal tomorrow, and therefore I can't sleep til noon.
Played* a bit of pool again. When I do, I always have the feeling that I'm not quite understanding the geometries involved, which good pool players do instinctively. Such as exactly where to hit the ball to get it to go in a certain direction. Intellectually I know where the ball would need to be hit, but in practice I can't distinguish much other than aiming the cue ball at the center of the target ball, or slightly to either side. I'm not skilled enough to see the difference in where to hit it to get it to go 10 degrees versus 30 degrees to the side, for example. And should I try to aim the center of the cue ball for that location, or should I try to aim so that the side of the cue ball hits the other ball?
Just now thinking about it again, I realize (or theorize?) that really there's only 45 degrees left or right of center that you could cause the ball to move, when hitting it directly with the cue ball. Right? You can't make it go 90 degrees or even 80 degrees left of center, right? Or maybe you can after all, when hitting it with the side of the cue ball?
Wait. The only place you can hit with the center of the cue ball is the center of the other ball, on the direct line between them. So for all other angles, you *have* to hit the other ball with the side of the cue ball. But then I get confused, as I have to consider which part of the target ball I should hit, plus which part of the cue ball should hit it, and then how should I hit the cue ball to get that to happen.
I'm pretty sure I researched this before, but I seem not to remember whatever I learned before. And as I'm not likely to be shooting much pool in the future, I don't have enough incentive to look it up again.
* I suppose it sounds better to say shooting pool, not playing. But would the past tense be "shot pool"?
I need to go to bed, as we are going to the Cape Cod Canal tomorrow, and therefore I can't sleep til noon.
