Some may have attributed it to witchcraft, some to hostile wind conditions and still others to some sort of witchy windcraft perhaps. Either way, Roberto Carlos' free kick goal for Brazil against France in 1997 is a thing of magic. But wait! It's not magic at all! Much like the antics of David Blaine, the skin of George Hamilton or the career of Ben Mulroney, it can all be explained by science.
In a report published by the latest issue of the New Journal of Physics, scientists from the
École Polytechnique in Palaiseau near Paris confirmed, as reported by the Telegraph, that "friction exerted on a ball by its surrounding atmosphere slows it down
enough for the spin to take on a greater role in directing the ball's
trajectory, thereby allowing the last moment change in direction, which in
the case of Carlos' kick left [French keeper Fabien] Barthez defenceless."
The researchers compared the spiral of Carlos's 115-foot kick with the shorter distance
(80ft) "circular" free kicks by other set-piece wizards like David Beckham
and Michel Platini.
Scientists Christophe Clanet and David Quéré told the Telegraph, "People often noticed that Carlos' free kick had been shot from a
remarkably long distance, we show in our paper that this is not a
coincidence, but a necessary condition for generating a spiral trajectory."
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