How much power do drivers need? Testing armspeed vs. disc speed! | Physics of Form ep. 7

It's common knowledge among disc golfers that distance drivers require more power than slower discs, but exactly how much power do they need? In this episode of Physics of Form Danny puts disc speed to the test and the results aren't exactly what you'd think...

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[kennethbrink]

Nice experiment, but how far did the fly? The turn is important but also the distance would be nice to correlate.

[pdobrigkeit]

Talk to Mark Rober to build a disc slinger which controls speed and angles!!

[JustDisc]

“It only went 320ft” 😂… I think most players can’t even throw that far! 😝

Great idea for a video and interesting results! Thanks for sharing Danny 👍

[johannorberg]

Some that gets rated turn are really just anyhyzer released. Plus spin at low speeds will be a big factor as it is a bit easier to get proportionally more spin at slower releases. But anyway this type of work really familiarizes you with your bag!

[putkipihvi]

At last you have disc numbers there. Thank you!

[bobbyauvil]

The arm speed is like horsepower (linear force), and, the rotation/spin of the disc is like torque (rotational force). I'd like to see a spin velocity in RPM, or, something. The faster an object spins, the lighter it is in our atmosphere, so, it really is the bigger part of achieving max distance.

[Travis_NB]

Just here to say I enjoy your rambling and throwing of discs.

[michaelcushman]

I found this to be insightful. Nose down and low 50s mph can turn any disc with some turn, 1 and above.
Many comments are about spin speed, but that isn't as relevant on turn as people think. The air forces increase on one side of the disc, but the additional rotational force fights the turn.
Others think Danny is confusing an anhyzer release with a turn. Turn is turn. If it is released with a little anhyzer and it goes even more anhyzer, it turned.
Yes a robot, indoors, with different air densities, angles, plastics, etc. Would be better. Go for it! (It is surprising the PDGA or disc manufacturers haven't done this, that we know of.)

[mr_huntie]

i love this video (i was literally walking around my apartment today practicing a loose arm/throw and thinking about how arm speed would affect my throw). but i wish you could've done this at like an indoor football field or something. i'd imagine that (as you mentioned) the occasional gust of crosswind played a huge part in your results. that and/or some kind of measurement on RPM for each disc would've been so fascinating to see, especially the correlation between arm speed, RPM, and the final result. like drawing a marker line from the center of the disc out, slow-mo record from the top and calculate it that way? idk, i'm thinking too hard about it haha. either way awesome content as always, danny! thanks for your time and hard work!

[bkah]

I just had a revelation hearing your comment about nose angle. I spun it on my finger like you did (pressing up and down on the nose) and wow, the disc's reaction blew my mind! For some reason I had never thought about that relationship between attack angle and turn. Amazing!
Thanks Danny! I'm always learning something new from watching these series! Keep it up :D

[jmlegacy]

The trim beard works this time looks good bro thanks for the info and all the hard work you do

[EricNentrupTheRed]

Loved this video and the thinking behind it, Danny. Thanks for nerding out on our behalf!

Would love to see this experiment conducted again with a bigger data set that includes multiple throws from several different people throwing, a measure of spin velocity, and a post-production analysis of each release, instead of anecdotal impressions while throwing.

Another level of research could be looking for patterns in the plastics and shape, etc. Whatever we call it. :D

And hope you've had fun painting! ;)

[AlwaysDunnRight]

interesting video. Elevation is for sure worth noting as well. As someone who used to live at 5k and now see level I had to rework my bag a ton. But also I feel like a lot that angle of release wasnt super consistant here, which is really hard to do obviously. But I felt like a lot that turned over were release with a slight anhyzer? or was that just me seeing things?

[freebaf]

I'm 60 years old with bad knees and hips, so all my throws are stand still. My max distance is between 250 and 280 feet, but I get turnover with my Thrasher (Speed 12) and even with my beat-in Trespass (Speed 12) if I keep the nose angle down. If I go even slightly nose up, nothing but hyzer and 100 feet of lost distance. I agree completely with nose down contributing the most to getting turn. Thanks for the experiment Danny!

[jonathanphillips]

What about the rpm’s of the disc? I imagine this is much harder to test but the gyroscope stability and aerodynamics of a disc likely change the faster it rotates (think speed differential from different sides of the disc)

[johnruess]

Air density makes a significant difference. Elevation, temperature, and humidity will affect turn. What were the conditions and note them for the test? At 4500' I throw much lighter, 150g and less, discs to get turn and distance. I have a 172g 9 6 -3 1 disc in a high grade plastic that won't turn at all on a 300' throw (55mph flex) but have seen the same disc thrown in low elevation crash right on a 250' throw. Great video, shows how sensitive turn is.

[russheitkamp]

I like the spirit of this experiment. There is a lot more variability in your wrist than you think.

[prattacaster]

Threw it anhyzer and said, "Yep, it turned".

[frazierkrall]

Love the experiment! It would be helpful to have other data such as angle of release, wind speed/direction, etc. From the video it seems as if the amount the disc turned over was based off of other factors than just speed

[matejstepan]

Hi Danny, I'm doing doing research for my Bachelor's dissertation concerning CFD simulation of disc golf discs. I absolutely love the content you're making and I think it's the best there is so far. I'd like to get in touch with you, I have so many question. Who knows, I might even by able to provide some answers :)