No need to put a spin on this science: the physics of slowly spinning soccer ball flight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_36rzK_RE8 This paper is pretty awesome. The authors take a commonly observed yet mysterious phenomenon and break it down with some hard-core physics. Turns out that the slow spin seen when a soccer ball flies through the air doesn't depend on how the ball is kicked, because the authors observe the same behavior when the ball is shot out of a machine, or even when dropped straight down. They go on to do a series of experiments, including several involving shooting soccer balls through smoke, and determine that the seams on the surface of the ball are required for the spin, although different sewing patterns don't seem to matter (pun intended).The strange flight behaviour of slowly spinning soccer balls. "The strange three-dimensional flight behaviour of slowly spinning soccer balls is one of the most interesting and unknown phenomenon associated with the trajectories of sports balls. Many spectators have experienced numerous ...