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Why does a curveball curve?

Asked by Grace Tanaka — Mar 26, 2026 — Science & Mathematics Open

In baseball, a pitcher can throw a ball that curves in the air. How does that work? The ball isn't being pushed by anything once it leaves the pitcher's hand. What makes the spin cause the ball to curve? Is it the same physics that makes other spinning things behave strangely?

5 Answers

Avtoservis_hnei — Mar 27, 2026

The math looks scary but it's mostly just a precise way of saying something you can understand in plain English. Once you get the concept, the equations are just bookkeeping. Focus on the idea first, the symbols second.

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admin — Mar 27, 2026

Scientists love this kind of question because it's how real discoveries start. 'That's funny...' is supposedly how a lot of breakthroughs begin. Keep that curiosity — it's worth more than memorizing facts for a test.

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Avtoservis_inei — Mar 28, 2026

This is something I struggled with until a professor explained it using an analogy that finally clicked. The real world is messy and doesn't always fit neatly into the simplified models we learn in textbooks.

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Alice Hartwell — Mar 28, 2026

Be careful about 'common sense' here — a lot of science is counterintuitive. The whole point of doing experiments is that the universe often doesn't work the way our gut tells us it should. The Earth feels flat and stationary, after all.

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Avtoservis_gmei — Mar 27, 2026

The honest answer is that scientists don't fully understand this yet. We have good models that make accurate predictions, but the 'why' underneath is still an active area of research. Anyone who tells you they have the complete answer is oversimplifying.

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