FreeEnterprise,

Originally posted by Benjichang What kind of angle will you be holding the gun at (approximately)? Just curious.

Seconded.

Do you have a protractor you could use to measure? Just our of curiosity, has nothing to do with the bet.

Originally posted by Darur I'd assume he'd fire at a 45 degree angle, anything else would be a disadvantage.

Even with the weird backspin thing from the barrel?

Originally posted by jmac3 WHat weird backspin? I am pretty sure the Apex just angles the balls like the flatline did. Only difference is you can change which way the angle is facing.

Huh?  Flatline puts backspin on the paintball.


Edited by pntbl freak - 17 April 2009 at 1:30pm

It may, but that isn't why it shoots farther.

It shoots farther because the barrel is curved and makes it so the ball doesn't start to drop off as quick.

Originally posted by jmac3 It may, but that isn't why it shoots farther. It shoots farther because the barrel is curved and makes it so the ball doesn't start to drop off as quick.

I'm quite sure he can get better range with the barrel than without. The lift  is essentially free added energy into the system. Yes, the ball comes out at the same muzzle velocity, but you'd find if you checked that slightly more air would have been fired to overcome the friction that imparts the backspin. That energy comes out as rotational energy instead of a vector energy, but it's still there, and it still works to his advantage.

Originally posted by Darur I'm a little rusty on the flatline, but I was always under the impression that the spin caused torque, not lift, and it was that torque from too fast a spin which caused the sudden upwards shooting.

Air is "flowing faster" over the top of the ball, at least relatively.  Creates a low pressure pocket, creating lift.

I could be wrong though, I'm not sure that the air is in fact flowing faster there, even if the ball is spinning backwards.

You are right though, I did forget that the ball will leave both barrels at the same speed, so no energy is lost, and rather the spun ball has greater energy.

This.

Originally posted by brihard Originally posted by Darur I'm a little rusty on the flatline, but I was always under the impression that the spin caused torque, not lift, and it was that torque from too fast a spin which caused the sudden upwards shooting. You are right though, I did forget that the ball will leave both barrels at the same speed, so no energy is lost, and rather the spun ball has greater energy. No, it's not torque. What happens is because there's a backspin you get more wind resistance on the bottom of the ball than on the top, hence lift. The torque is equal in all ectors around the rotation, so it wouldn't cause it to shoot upwards.

Well, what made me think there was no torque was the lack of anything to impose said torque.  Except the air, which is most likely of the same density over the face of the sphere.

If you want to play with a flatline, get an Apex instead. You'll find it far more versatile. The flatline's awesome when you finally get it set up just so, but it's finnicky. No matter how you slice it though, the significant distance increases at no or low angle are very real.

Originally posted by Destruction Who cares?