How to Hook a Bowling Ball

Live Script exploring a simple bowling model numerically.

Bowlers often attempt to "hook" the ball to strike the pins at an optimal angle. The curved trajectory results from the frictional interaction of the spinning ball with the lane surface during a sliding phase. When the surface is oiled nonuniformly, even the simplest mechanical model is not subject to analytic solution.

This educational Live Script illustrates the solution to two-dimensional equations of motion describing a spherically symmetric ball sliding and rolling on a variable friction surface. It illustrates how to solve a coupled system of ordinary differential equations numerically with event termination and space-dependent conditions.

This script may interest students and instructors of physics and related fields. 'Try this' suggestions, coding 'Challenges,' hyperlinks, and references are included for further exploration. Additional related educational Live Scripts by the author are available here.