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Technology / Re: Has a hole-seeking golf ball been built?
« on: 15/10/2018 02:05:36 »Just a thought, but couldn't you change the direction that a golf ball moves by having an internal mechanism that changes its center of gravity?
Redistributing the weight inside a non-spinning ball wouldn't change its flight path : no change in momentum.
If the ball was spinning in air, and you changed the center of gravity, that could change its trajectory ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_effect
Ideally one would program the GPS coordinates of the golf course in, so one might be able to force it to change flight path slightly.
I assume if one induced a right/left spin on the ball, one might be able to get the ball to curve ever so slightly. Or, perhaps one could induce a slight amount of extra lift.
Assuming the ball has the basic outside shape unaltered, and no wings, then all changes in motion would have to be based on momentum, and location of the center of gravity.
That means that your steering mechanism in the air and on the ground may be very different. That could be problematic when your ball hits the ground. So, say using momentum, one had the core spinning clockwise at 500 rpm and the shell spinning counterclockwise at 500 rpm. Suddenly when the ball hits the ground, that side-spin shoots the ball off to the side somewhere, and you'd have to regain control of the rotation of the ball before you could control it.
Now, if one could penetrate the surface, then in the air, tiny wings, water jets, or even air jets could do significant changes in motion and perhaps lift.