bruin70 said:
i don't know what you used to gauge your observations, but i must say that i can't see what you say........
"What typically happens is the force starts off at zero and increases gradually to some maximum roughly half way through the stroke."
i don't see this happening. i feel an increase in speed, starting at zero, and reaching maximum JUST passed half way, and THAT is moment of impact.
I was talking about the force on the cue applied by the player, which is different then its velocity. Both the force AND the velocity increase for about
the first half of the time it takes for the cue to reach the cueball. Then the
force begins diminishing while the cue's speed continues to increase, precisely
because the force has not yet reached zero.
bruin70 said:
i do not understand your "Then it begins subsiding and reaches zero around the moment of impact.",,,, because i don't see impact at the point when the cue decelerates to zero. how can one propel a cb when speed has reached zero,,,unless by zero you mean a point at which the cue is neither accelerating nor decelaerating? that either makes no sense, or i am misinterpreting you.
Yes, again I was refering to the force. With zero force on it, the cue's
speed remains constant, by the definition of force.
bruin70 said:
"Shortly after impact the force turns negative (i.e, you begin pulling instead of pushing the cue) and the cue eventually comes to a stop."
i don't see this either. i think a good player strokes evenly through the cb. if there is deceleration, it is only near the end of the stroke, not after impact. the only players i see "pull back" are bad players who poke at the cb.
I think the deceleration starts shortly after impact, but it is somewhat
irrelevant to our discusion.
bruin70 said:
there is an iteration of the obvious in this whole acceleration theory, because acceleration/deceleration is part of the natural movement of things. so i think to try and break this down in a stroke that occurs in a span of 6-8 inches is almost pointless.
But that was the original posters question.
bruin70 said:
and if acc/dec is the natural flow of movement, then what is left is the timing...at what point does the cue contact the cb. this is true in all sports,,,that sweet point when the club or bat or cue impact the ball perfectly. in pool, both changing the length of your bridge and/or changing where you grip the cue will affect the timing of the hit.
i think it is a VERY bad thing to be conscious of the acceleration/deceleration of one's stroke...mainly,,,,,it can't be helped. i don't think one can consciously accelerate his stroke without totally screwing up his rhythm.
I agree with this and am not suggesting one should or can be aware of
these things while playing. But you can adjust the length of your stroke,
and thus whether or not you're accelerating at impact, by changing the
grip position.
