Magnus effect


 
A rotating cylinder in moving fluid is pushed to one side. This is known as the Magnus effect. The forces involved are the same ones that cause a baseball pitcher's curve ball to be pushed to one side.
 
To demonstrate the effect begin by linking together end to end about three rubber bands. Push one end of band A through band B. Then push one end of A through the loop of the other end of A. Grab the end of A that was pushed through and pull it tight. Connected the third band in the same manner.
 
Place one end of the chain of bands against the outside of the center of an empty bathroom tissue cardboard tube. Wind the rubber bands around stretching as you wind. Wind over the end that you began with so that it will be held in place. Go around about three times. Hold the tube at its middle with one hand. Stretch the rubber band out away from you with the other hand. The tube should be horizontal. The stretched out band should be about horizontal and perpendicular to the tube. The rubber band should emerge from under the tube not from over the tube. Release the tube. It will be flung away spinning rapidly. The spinning will cause its path to curve upward maybe doing a loop the loop or hitting the ceiling.
 
If the tube is too thin and crinkles, then reinforce it with a heavy paper disc glued across the center of the tube. An alternate design is to use wide masking tape to fasten two plastic foam drink cups together bottom to bottom. Wind the tape around two or three times. Use the cups in the same way as the tube. At the end of the cups' flight they seem to glide rather than fall to the floor.