---

The Physics of a Frisbee

Home - Orgins - Basics - Physics - Bibliography

---

Basics

The first few forces acting on the flight of a frisbee are fairly basic in concept. The factors are gravity, air
resistance, and angle of attack.

Gravity
Gravity of course works on everything the same on earth with a fairly uniform force of -9.81 m/sec and is
probably the concept most people are familiar with.

Air Resistance
The air resistance acting on the frisbee is related to the speed which it is moving and the cross sectional    
area of the edge. While the frisbee is horizontal the area is at a minimum versus if the frisbee wobbles off  
flat the area increases and slows the frisbee down more. The main force this effects is the initial velocity    
which gets slowly reduced by this force.

Angle of Attack
The angle of attack is the angle at which the frisbee is thrown at in relation to a perpendicular line to gravity.
Throwing the frisbee at different angles with change how it will fly through the air, lower angles keep the      
low along the ground while higher angles will make the frisbee go high and stall causeing it to drop almost   
staight down from a stop.