Why do bowlers curve the ball?

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It looks cool and it seems like everyone who is actually good at bowling will make the ball spin and curve.. My question is why?

Again, I’m not good at bowling but why aren’t people just smashing it in the middle? If you’re gonna dedicate countless of hours to practicing, why not master the most consistent type of throw? Is there some physics aspect that makes the pins go down easier when hit by a ball that has a sideway rotation

In: Physics

7 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The short answer is if you hit the headpin (the one in the front) dead on its much more random of how it will clear the pins behind it. The curve allows the ball to hit the “pocket” which is the space between the head pin and either the pin behind it to the left or right which makes it more likely to get a controlled release of pins that will take out more pins consistently.

The head pin will shoot out to one side while the ball will take out a lot on the other side and then it kinda comes down to some skill and some luck when it comes to getting a strike. Great bowlers will just be super consistent at hitting the same spots on the pocket.

As for whoever found that this was a better method I have no idea but I bet they were drunk and messing around like most people normally do on a bowling alley.

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