Cue ball break speed

[Catahula]

As many of you I have spent a lot of hours in search of the ultimate break. The one that sounds like reverberating thunder through the hall. that has other players stopping in mid-stroke to gaze upon it in wonder. The one that splits the cueball in half and reduces the headball to powder.
With that in mind, I was wondering the other night about cue ball speed on the break.
It seems that there has been some relatively scientific research done on measuring the speed of the cue ball on the break and that the truly heavy hitters are at 25+ mph with their break.
My question is simple enough.
"With a decent stoke, is the cue ball still accelerating upon impact?"
If it is, does it then make some sense to move the cue ball back away from the headstring as to give it more time to accelerate? Or is any increase in cue ball speed so minimal that what you might trade off in accuracy not worth the effort?
If it is still accelerating, how far (approximately) would it have to travel (in a straight line) before it reached terminal velocity. For this I am obviously talking about a hypothetical situation on a table with unlimited length.

For myself, I have the cue ball snug on the headstring looking for the most accurate contact.
Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Catahula]

and a few balls as well

Oh yea...regarding the break...the one that also happens to make a few balls as well.

 

[desert1pocket]

The cueball stops accelerating, and starts decelerating as soon it leaves the cue tip. Acceleration can only occur when there is some force to propel an object.

 

[Gerry]

well, my input on the subject might not be popular with you since my goal is to break ONLY as hard as needed to make a ball, and not lose control. MANY years ago I learned breaking hard sounds good, impresses people, but if it is in trade for accuracy and control it's worthless.

I'm more in the Corey D camp of breaking. I try to strategically figure out the table, and reduce ANYTHING that lets my opponent back to the table like losing the CB off the table on the break, or scratching in the side pocket.

How many times do you see a set go 7/6 or 9/8 and if you go back in the set and see who made more breaking errors you might just see why the set went to the winner...

Gerry

 

[thrasher789]

The cueball stops accelerating, and starts decelerating as soon it leaves the cue tip. Acceleration can only occur when there is some force to propel an object.

Newton's first law I believe; the second it stops being accelerated by your stroke it is being decelerated by the felt friction among other things, the closer to the balls the faster your gonna be going when you get there.

 

[StevenPWaldon]

Except that when he needs to break from the box and not use a soft break, he struggles. His breaks at the IPT were horrendous! I think he'd be killer if (in addition to his precise soft break) he developed a controlled power break.

well, my input on the subject might not be popular with you since my goal is to break ONLY as hard as needed to make a ball, and not lose control. MANY years ago I learned breaking hard sounds good, impresses people, but if it is in trade for accuracy and control it's worthless.

I'm more in the Corey D camp of breaking. I try to strategically figure out the table, and reduce ANYTHING that lets my opponent back to the table like losing the CB off the table on the break, or scratching in the side pocket.

How many times do you see a set go 7/6 or 9/8 and if you go back in the set and see who made more breaking errors you might just see why the set went to the winner...

Gerry

 

[StevenPWaldon]

Correct.

Unless you do some crazy high-english masse where the cue accelerates due to the friction of the cloth, stop thinking about the cue accelerating as it contacts the rack.

[Edit: just recalled that "accelerating" can also mean a decrease in speed (i.e. *any* rate of change in velocity). For the post, I had meant an increase of. Damn semantics]

The cueball stops accelerating, and starts decelerating as soon it leaves the cue tip. Acceleration can only occur when there is some force to propel an object.

 

[Bob Jewett]

The cueball stops accelerating, and starts decelerating as soon it leaves the cue tip. Acceleration can only occur when there is some force to propel an object.

This is true although enough follow could keep it accelerating. That would be a really lousy way to break because the spin is mostly wasted energy. You want to hit the cue ball very close to its center.

From a previous calculation, if the cue ball remained on the cloth, it would lose about 1% of its speed on the way to the rack due to friction with the cloth. The cue ball is mostly airborne on the way to the rack, and exactly what happens on touchdowns (if any) is not clear. In any case, the loss is unlikely to be significant.

 

[inthezone]

This is true although enough follow could keep it accelerating. That would be a really lousy way to break because the spin is mostly wasted energy. You want to hit the cue ball very close to its center.

From a previous calculation, if the cue ball remained on the cloth, it would lose about 1% of its speed on the way to the rack due to friction with the cloth. The cue ball is mostly airborne on the way to the rack, and exactly what happens on touchdowns (if any) is not clear. In any case, the loss is unlikely to be significant.

at 25 mph you would need 3700 rpm + to get any help - highly unlikely. If 3700 rpm were attainable, a center ball hit with that same stroke speed would be probably generate over 30 mph cb speed - far surpassing what the follow spin might add.

Too little time to work out the exact physics.

 

[inthezone]

This is true although enough follow could keep it accelerating. That would be a really lousy way to break because the spin is mostly wasted energy. You want to hit the cue ball very close to its center.

From a previous calculation, if the cue ball remained on the cloth, it would lose about 1% of its speed on the way to the rack due to friction with the cloth. The cue ball is mostly airborne on the way to the rack, and exactly what happens on touchdowns (if any) is not clear. In any case, the loss is unlikely to be significant.

BTW, tests have shown that the skip on the way to the rack + air resistance reduce speed undetecticbly with speed meters accurate to +/- 1/10 mph.

 

[quitecoolguy]

I use two breaks..both of them are really cool..one my brother figured out and the second i figued out myself..My brothers break if done correctly will park the cue ball just aout 3 inches infront of the where the one was..however if you dont hit it just right..the cue ball always and i mean always shots to the side pocket...my break is simple..i line the cue ball dead nut center of the table..not a lot of power..it more snap than a stoke..but i hit the one ball dead solid the cue ball goes straight up in the air and land at a dead stand still on the table..the only problem is that you really spread the ball wide open and if you dont pocket a ball you opponent can run out on you