Amateur Physics for the Amateur Pool Player

Shepard R.

The word amateur is based on the Latin words amaior (a lover) and aware (to love). An amateur is someone who loves what he does, and pursues it for the pleasure of the act itself. These notes are intended for the pool player who enjoys playing the game, and who enjoys understanding how things work using the language of physics. There is probably very little pool playing technique discussed in this manuscript that will be new to the experienced pool player, and likewise, there is little physics that will be new to the experienced physicist. However, there will be hopefully new pool technique for the interested physicist and new physics for the interested pool player. The tone of the presentation is not directed necessarily toward either the pool student or the physics student, but rather toward the amateur who enjoys both. The physics that is used here is not derived from first principles: it is assumed that the reader is familiar with such ideas as Newton’s laws of motion, center of mass transformations, moments of inertia, linear and angular acceleration, geometry, trigonometry, and vector notation. Reference to a calculus-based introductory college level physics textbook should be sufficient to understand fully any of the physics used or mentioned in this text. The Feynman Lectures on Physics (Vol. 1) is one such text that the reader will find enjoyable.This discussion is divided into five sections. Section 1 discusses the equipment (balls, tables, cue sticks, cue tip. cloth) and some of its associated properties (various friction coefficients, forces, moments of inertia), section 2 discusses the concept of natural roll, section 3 discusses the cue tip and cue ball impact, section 4 discusses collisions between balls, and section 5 discusses the use of statistical methods. Each section includes some general discussion and specific problems (along with their solutions). Some exercises are also given along the way; it is intended for the reader to experiment on a pool table with some of the techniques that have been discussed.