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The Physics of Spin in Table Tennis

By Greg Letts, About.com

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Air Speed and Relative Air Speed

(c) 2005 Jonathan Roberts
The above triangle shows a vector diagram of the direction (the angle, Ø, or Theta) and velocity (the length of the line) the wind is blowing. Through this diagram, a number can be derived to represent the wind speed on the ball.

Sine Ø = Short line ÷ Direction the wind's blowing
Direction and magnitude of wind = Short line ÷ Sine Ø

This isn't really an important factor in table tennis, as wind speed is usually negligible, due playing indoors, unless you have a fan on in the same room.

To fully understand the concept of spinning the ball, a look at what happens when topspin, underspin and sidespin is applied to the ball must be analyzed.

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