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Classroom

In this section of Resonance, we invite readers to pose questions likely to be raised in a classroom situation. We may suggest strategies for dealing with them, or invite responses, or both. “Classroom” is equally a forum for raising broader issues and sharing personal experiences and viewpoints on matters related to teaching and learning science.

Tennis Ball Flight under Strong Wind

K R Y Simha

Predicting the path of flying objects is the most exciting aspect of sports. Tennis ball cricket offers plenty of excitement when played under windy conditions. This force of wind on flying objects called drag affects the flight path significantly. In high school physics and college mechanics, we solved many interesting problems without considering wind effects.

Here, we discuss how winds bring in many mathematical compli-cations, and how physics helps us to simplify matters for developing the tennis ball theory under strong winds, or TBTSW for short.

Address for Correspondance

K R Y Simha
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Indian Institute of Science
Bangalore 560 012, India.
Email:simha@mecheng.iisc.ernet.in

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Indian Academy of Sciences
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Sadashivanagar Post, Bangalore 560 080