The Physics of Billiards

The other day I was playing billiards with my friends down at Hawaiian Brian’s for our kickoff event. And it hit me that the game is a matter of vectors and where you hit the ball. When hit square almost all of the force is transferred to the ball. Meaning that you can use the equation (m1+m2)a=F(of the cue ball). Because a force is applied to both balls when they collide and accelerate and decelerate. Static friction and normal force push back on the cue ball while the initial force acts on the 13 ball. And they stop either from the kinetic friction slowing both, or they fall into the pocket. This is fairly simple, yes, but when it’s not hit square the ball takes on the vector at the angle the two balls collide at, as well as the spin. To account for these factors is extremely hard, and it never seems to work too well when you try to go through with the plan. Usually I just try to hit the ball as hard as possible and get lucky when they go in.

Thanks for reading, Mark.