{"id":578811,"date":"2026-07-10T15:15:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T15:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/578811\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T15:15:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T15:15:20","slug":"physicist-explains-how-to-bend-it-like-beckham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/578811\/","title":{"rendered":"Physicist Explains How to \u201cBend it Like Beckham\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It contributed to soccer legend David Beckham\u2019s record number of goals on direct free kicks, and entered popular culture by inspiring a movie which, in turn, inspired a West End musical.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, how do you bend it like Beckham? At least from a physics point of view?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Northeastern University physicist Arun Bansil said many forces are at play in \u201cbending\u201d a soccer ball \u2014 including gravity, which draws masses with energy toward each other, and drag, which slows down the forward motion of the ball.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bansil said the \u201cabsolute key\u201d to bending, however, is the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/science\/Magnus-effect\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Magnus force<\/a>, or effect, which is the generation of a sidewise force triggered by a ball spinning through the air.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs the ball rotates, one side moves with the oncoming airflow while the other moves against it,\u201d said Bansil, <a href=\"https:\/\/cos.northeastern.edu\/people\/arun-bansil\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">university distinguished professor of physics at Northeastern<\/a>. \u201cThis accelerates the air on one side and decelerates it on the other.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" id=\"ngn-media-212382\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"733\" width=\"1100\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Arun-Bansil.jpeg\" alt=\"Arun Bansil, University Distinguished Professor of physics at Northeastern University, in a studio portrait against a teal backdrop.\" class=\"wp-image-212382\"  \/>Physicist Arun Bansil describes spin as \u201cthe magic of bending.\u201d  Photo by Matthew Modoono\/Northeastern University<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thanks to Swiss mathematician <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Daniel-Bernoulli\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Daniel Bernoulli,<\/a> we know that the pressure in the faster-moving air is lower than the pressure on the slower-moving air, Bansil explained, and this pressure difference pushes the ball sideways, or perpendicular to the direction of motion, toward the lower-pressure, faster-moving air.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But creating the Magnus effect is all dependent on spin, what Bansil calls \u201cthe magic of bending.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A ball spinning left-to-right will bend left, while a ball spinning right-to-left will bend to the right. A ball spinning from top-to-bottom produces topspin that bends the ball downward.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The degree of that bend includes not just the amount of spin on the ball but the ball\u2019s speed, Bansil said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSlower, heavily spinning balls tend to curve more dramatically than fast, lightly spinning ones,\u201d Bansil explained, due to the former generating more Magnus force. Greater speed also generates more Magnum force, but because the ball spends less time in the air, the effect is \u201cmore subtle,\u201d Bansil added.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSkilled players combine foot placement, contact, and follow-through to control the direction and the degree of bend with impressive precision,\u201d Bansil said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In fact, skilled players aim not at the target, but a point offset from it, to account for the curve, Bansil said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe amount of offset depends on the speed of the shot, the amount of spin, and the distance to the target,\u201d as well as wind conditions that can push the ball from side-to-side or forward or back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, perfecting that aim takes more than physics.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAiming a curving ball is both an art and a science,\u201d Bansil said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As is protecting the goal against a bending ball.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cElite goalkeepers cannot simply react to the bend of a ball,\u201d said Ashley Phillips, Northeastern\u2019s women\u2019s soccer coach and a former college goalie.\u00a0 \u201cThey must begin reading its flight before it is ever struck.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thus goalies must recognize the kicker\u2019s angle of approach, hip position, plant foot, pace of leg swing, and point of contact on the ball, to begin to predict a shot\u2019s pace, spin, and potential bend, Phillips said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat early information allows them to move sooner, while their reactions enable them to make the final adjustments as the ball travels,\u201d Phillips continued. \u201cGreat goalkeeping is the seamless combination of anticipation and reaction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\tNortheastern Global News, in your inbox.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-small-font-family has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"margin-top:0\">Sign up for NGN\u2019s daily newsletter for news, discovery and analysis from around the world.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"990\" height=\"569\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/EmailGraphic.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-217664 size-full\" style=\"object-position:50% 50%\"  \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It contributed to soccer legend David Beckham\u2019s record number of goals on direct free kicks, and entered popular&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578812,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[271],"tags":[18,26486,19,17,452,133,4335,178784,35350],"class_list":["post-578811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-physics","tag-eire","tag-faculty","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-physics","tag-science","tag-soccer","tag-world-cup-2026","tag-world-cup"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116896342826330997","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}