Why are bombs, the ones dropped from airplanes, shaped like an oval with fins on one end? Why aren’t they spheres so they just fall down onto the target?
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They are shaped like spheres. Have you even played Mario?
Spinning spheres move in curved paths from a thing called the Magnus effect. That’s what’s happening when a baseball pitcher throws a curveball.
This makes it very hard to aim a spherical bomb. It’s the same reason armies stopped using round musket balls. It won’t just follow the predictable ballistic path. If it happens to backspin, it will generate some lift, making it overshoot the target. If it happens to topspin, it will dive down sharper and undershoot the target. If it happens to side spin, it will drift to the side.
The elongated shape with the fins in the back forces it to follow a predictable ballistic path instead of the crazy curve a sphere would have.
Edit: Also it makes it predictable which part of the bomb will impact first – it will be the nose. That makes it possible to know where to build the impact trigger switch.
Spinning spheres move in curved paths from a thing called the Magnus effect. That’s what’s happening when a baseball pitcher throws a curveball.
This makes it very hard to aim a spherical bomb. It’s the same reason armies stopped using round musket balls. It won’t just follow the predictable ballistic path. If it happens to backspin, it will generate some lift, making it overshoot the target. If it happens to topspin, it will dive down sharper and undershoot the target. If it happens to side spin, it will drift to the side.
The elongated shape with the fins in the back forces it to follow a predictable ballistic path instead of the crazy curve a sphere would have.
Edit: Also it makes it predictable which part of the bomb will impact first – it will be the nose. That makes it possible to know where to build the impact trigger switch.
Spinning spheres move in curved paths from a thing called the Magnus effect. That’s what’s happening when a baseball pitcher throws a curveball.
This makes it very hard to aim a spherical bomb. It’s the same reason armies stopped using round musket balls. It won’t just follow the predictable ballistic path. If it happens to backspin, it will generate some lift, making it overshoot the target. If it happens to topspin, it will dive down sharper and undershoot the target. If it happens to side spin, it will drift to the side.
The elongated shape with the fins in the back forces it to follow a predictable ballistic path instead of the crazy curve a sphere would have.
Edit: Also it makes it predictable which part of the bomb will impact first – it will be the nose. That makes it possible to know where to build the impact trigger switch.
Some additional info for you OP. Others have mentioned the magnus effect. We have utilized this effect in the past, before we had the ability to target individual structures with accuracy.
Skip bombs aka dam busters were cylindrical bombs utilized during ww2. They would spin up the bombs before releasing them over water, well before thier target. The magnus effect would cause enough momentum to be transferred from downwards motion to forwards motion that the bombs would not detonate on impact with the water. Instead they would skip across the water like a stone, only detonating once they struck a vertical object. (Hopefully the dam)
Some additional info for you OP. Others have mentioned the magnus effect. We have utilized this effect in the past, before we had the ability to target individual structures with accuracy.
Skip bombs aka dam busters were cylindrical bombs utilized during ww2. They would spin up the bombs before releasing them over water, well before thier target. The magnus effect would cause enough momentum to be transferred from downwards motion to forwards motion that the bombs would not detonate on impact with the water. Instead they would skip across the water like a stone, only detonating once they struck a vertical object. (Hopefully the dam)
Some additional info for you OP. Others have mentioned the magnus effect. We have utilized this effect in the past, before we had the ability to target individual structures with accuracy.
Skip bombs aka dam busters were cylindrical bombs utilized during ww2. They would spin up the bombs before releasing them over water, well before thier target. The magnus effect would cause enough momentum to be transferred from downwards motion to forwards motion that the bombs would not detonate on impact with the water. Instead they would skip across the water like a stone, only detonating once they struck a vertical object. (Hopefully the dam)
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