Here's how Beckham bends it

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2006

PARIS (AFP) — Physicists are not known for donning replica shirts and face paint, yet they are among the millions who marvel at David Beckham, Roberto Carlos and other masters of the banana kick.

Backed by wind tunnels, high-speed cameras and computer simulation, scientists have been keen to understand the complex physics that go into one of those dazzling curving kicks from outside the box.

Three big variables combine to determine where the ball will go, according to researchers at Britain's University of Sheffield.

They are the VELOCITY of the ball, determined by the force at which it is struck; the SPIN of the ball, which imparts the curve; and the DRAG, or the braking effect of the air.

The key factor in all this is something called the Magnus...