Imagine the world's best/most powerful breaker on an endless pool table... how long does the cue ball travel?

[Bob Jewett]

But, I mean.. why would you even need to start at a pool table? Just shoot it off any table, or a couch, or off a mat, or anything.

You can set up at a customary height and situation. If the table has the end rail off, why not?

 

[hang-the-9]

I checked with ChatGPT and it estimated 20 to 30 feet for a 25mph hit. I think that estimate is pretty low.

From OpenAI:

The distance a cue ball would travel if struck at 25 mph would depend on several factors such as the type of table surface, the ball's initial trajectory, the presence of other balls on the table, and the level of friction and air resistance.

However, as a rough estimate, on a standard billiard table with a smooth, level surface, a cue ball struck at 25 mph might travel approximately 20 to 30 feet before coming to a stop, assuming no other balls are present on the table and there is no significant air resistance. This is just a rough estimate and actual distances may vary widely based on the specific conditions.

This sounds correct for a table when rails are involved with a slower cloth and slower rails than new. I know on the tables I most often play at with old rails I can get 3 or so table lengths of cueball travel with a hard hit, which is around this estimate. I think the AI was thinking about the constraints of a normal table not an open-ended table.

 

[Nick8400]

All I know is the cue ball goes quite a long ways across the pool room after I jump it off the table.

 

[Brookeland Bill]

It travels as far as it wants to.
Are you related to justnum?

Justnum and Numnuts.

 

[Brookeland Bill]

I've heard of being bored but wtf.

After you get through playing with yourself there’s not a lot to think about is there?

 

[Bob Jewett]

A pool ball doesn't go nearly that far on a pool table because it loses roughly 75% of its energy (50% of its speed) each time it makes fullish contact with a cushion. If you can get five lengths with your break speed (25MPH), you would have to hit the ball twice as fast (50MPH) to get six lengths.

Because distance increases directly with energy, every time you hit a cushion directly, your potential distance is reduced by a factor of 4.

 

[Black-Balled]

A description of the experiment is in Byrne's Advanced Technique book. Byrne (his table and his garage), Shamos, Annigoni, Simon and Jewett were the experimenters. The balls -- including ivory -- landed on the driveway within a few yards of the end of the table.

Insanity

 

[Banger]

A mile on slate or ice(I didn’t read this thread yet)

Amarillo Slim once bet someone that he could drive a golf ball a mile. He then proceeded to tee it up on the shore of a frozen lake, and gave it a good whack. The golf ball went flying, and he won that bet. Or so the story goes.

 

[Bob Jewett]

... d = v^2 / (g * (r+k))

I have the others (r=0.01) but how is k defined?

 

[Bob Jewett]

Amarillo Slim once bet someone that he could drive a golf ball a mile. He then proceeded to tee it up on the shore of a frozen lake, and gave it a good whack. The golf ball went flying, and he won that bet. Or so the story goes.

The same story is told of Titanic Thompson.

 

[Bob Jewett]

Insanity

Life is about having experiences.

 

[Fatboy]

Amarillo Slim once bet someone that he could drive a golf ball a mile. He then proceeded to tee it up on the shore of a frozen lake, and gave it a good whack. The golf ball went flying, and he won that bet. Or so the story goes.

Yes, that’s what I was thinking when I made my post.

I used to know Slim in Vegas, seen him at the pool room a few times and of course at the poker room.

 

[Brookeland Bill]

If a cue ball flys off the table and hits a hardwood floor but no ones around, does it make a sound?

 

[Fatboy]

A body in motion stays in motion until acted on by a outside force

That’s a principal in physics.

Friction is the only thing stopping the CB. The more friction, the faster the CB will stop. How hard it is initially hit determines how fast an infinite roll would happen in a frictionless environment (impossible), not how far.

Or something like that

Fatboy

 

[Rocket354]

A pool ball doesn't go nearly that far on a pool table because it loses roughly 75% of its energy (50% of its speed) each time it makes fullish contact with a cushion. If you can get five lengths with your break speed (25MPH), you would have to hit the ball twice as fast (50MPH) to get six lengths.

Because distance increases directly with energy, every time you hit a cushion directly, your potential distance is reduced by a factor of 4.

On a 9' table 5 full lengths would be 500" = 41.67 ft. 41.67 x 2^5 = 1333.33 ft, so, yes, the drastic reduction in distance travelled from a real pool table to a theoretical infinite pool table does seem to check out. Thanks.

 

[MitchAlsup]

Let's assume 30MPH for the break -- a few players can reach that with some control.

Simonis has the equivalent friction of an uphill slope of 1 in 100 or maybe 1/120 on a brand new cloth. (This is easy to measure from tournament videos.)

A ball moving 30MPH has the speed of a ball dropped from a height of 30 feet, unless I slipped a decimal. Multiply that height by the slope factor of 100 to get 3000 feet. Or 3600 on brand new cloth.

This ignores wind resistance, so the test is best done in a vacuum.

This is at least in the ball park.

 

[Black-Balled]

Life is about having experiences.

There was nothing unremarkable about that story, from the experiment to your reply to pj.

If only your powers could be used for good, bob.

Mind-blowing Hahaha

 

[Bob Jewett]

This is at least in the ball park.

They must have some big ball parks in your parts.

 

[Patrick Johnson]

...why would you even need to start at a pool table?

Why do it at all? What useful info were Byrne, Shamos, Annigoni, Simon and Jewett looking for?

pj <- were alcoholic beverages involved?
chgo

 

[Cornerman]

A description of the experiment is in Byrne's Advanced Technique book. Byrne (his table and his garage), Shamos, Annigoni, Simon and Jewett were the experimenters. The balls -- including ivory -- landed on the driveway within a few yards of the end of the table.

That jibes with my post above.