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The Magnus or Robins effect on rotating spheres

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2006

H. M. Barkla
Affiliation:
University of St Andrews
L. J. Auchterlonie
Affiliation:
University of St Andrews Present address: Paisley College of Technology.

Abstract

Robins showed in 1742 that a transverse aerodynamic force on a rotating sphere could be detected by suspending it as a pendulum. Differences of periodic time in conical pendulum motion with spin and orbit parallel and opposed have been found to give a reasonably accurate measure of the lift coefficient, and the results shown extend knowledge of the effect down to a Reynolds number of 2 × 103 and up to a ratio of 12 between the peripheral and translational velocities.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1971 Cambridge University Press

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References

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