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Shoot Hard?

© Copyright 1999, Jim Loy

Pool players sometimes say that physics (or geometry) shows that if you could only shoot the ball hard enough, it would go in some pocket. Physics courses normally simplify the situation by ignoring friction and the various curves on the path of the ball. In fact they pretend that the ball is a beam of light and the cushions are mirrors. This produces a reasonably accurate picture of what really happens. It is a first approximation. Once all of this is done, most pool shots would go into a pocket if the ball kept going. The above 11-rail shot is an example.

But some shots do not go, even if the ball rolls forever. The simplest exception is the ball that bounces back and forth forever, as in the diagram at the right. It never comes near a pocket.

The third diagram shows another path which never scores.

In real pool, the situation is more complicated, with curves and inelastic collisions and friction. You can't get more than about 7 or 8 rails on a hard shot. But the second diagram, above, still never comes close to scoring. And many other hard shots miss the pockets as well.

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