The objective is to pick up the 7-10 split.  Usually, I throw 15 lb. equipment.  Since I will need to rely on bouncing either the 7 or the 10 pin back out of the pit to convert the spare, would I be better off to throw a different weight ball?

Would a 16lb. ball thrown, say, 2 mph slower (due to added weight) hit the pin harder and make it more probable to kick out of the back?  OR - would a 14 lb. ball thrown 2mph faster (due to less wieght) generate a more favorable chance for the kick out?  OR - is it possible that the 15lb at normal speed would be be the best?

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9~

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin

It all depends on how you want to make it.  Even throwing the ball at 22 mph, if you hit it dead on or almost dead on, you just knock the pin in the pit.  If you take a 16 lb ball, and catch the inside with enough force you might be able to knock it from sidewall to sidewall.  Or take a 15 lb ball, catch the very outside and hope for a favorable jump.  

I converted the 4-7-10 by sheer luck, throwing a regular straight ball (not muscled) at the 4-7 to take count.  Hit the 4-7 dead on, and somehow the pin hit the backwall, bounced off the ball, and all the way across and wiped out the 10.  I was as shocked as anything. But it just shows ya, a lot of it was sheer luck
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"Here we go folks, he is working off the first 8, and looking good.  Looks good on the approach.... OH NO, its off his ankle and down the gutter!!  OHH THE HUMANITY!"

Darrell Guzman
guzmand19 - Yahoo IM and MSN screen names

I read one time, that the best way to pick it up, with the biggest percentage of making it, is to shoot at the pin that is on the opposite side of the ball return. The pit in the back is shallower on that side, thus more of a bounce out toward the other pin to take it out, but luck is always the big factor!!
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GUTTER DUN!!!
Bear with me, I'm the highest shootin' lowest shooter, spare missin', lane strugglin' beginner I've ever met!!

Does anyone go after splits the opposite way?  Instead of hitting the pin hard, try to get as slight and light a pin as you can and hope for it to cross the lane?  I've never gotten the 7/10 but got the 7 pin to dance maybe two-thirds of the way across the lane after about as light a hit as you can. I actually consider that to be a talent of mine, having enough control to throw a ball as slow as possible and get as glancing blow as you possibly can to a pin.  I've gotten the 4 6 10 this way a few time.  Would love to hear the comments on this technique.

Actually,

Force is not equal to Mass * Velocity.  So this equation is not a factor.

Force = Mass * Acceleration.  You could use this equation to determine how much force you are applying to accelrate the bolwing ball - but that doesn't help. To answer your question, I would be much more interested in the momentum of the ball you are throwing.

Momentum = Mass * Velocity * Velocity * .5

How do you apply this?   Well if you increase your ball weight from a 14lb to 16lb ball you have an approx 14% increase in mass which equals a 14% increase in momentum assuming balls are thrown at the same speed.  However if you increase your speed by 14%, since velocity is squared, your momentum is increased by 30% assuming the same weight ball.  So all other factors being equal, a ball thrown faster will have more momentum than a heavier ball for the same increase.  This will equate to more energy delievered to the pin.

Of course there are several other factors as everyone is saying, including angle of incidence, coefficient of restituion of the ball, and on and on - but the bottom line is go for speed.

Also, the likelyhood of a ball to toe up and hit the kickback is increased with speed - due to the differences in center of gravity of the pin and bowling ball. Watch people with fast balls, the pins going flying in the air.  I think rotation, or rather the track the ball is rolling on when it hits,  will determine how much the pins scatter to the side, though I cannot back that up with physics at this point in time.



Thanks,
Scott

Edited on 3/11/2004 7:09 PM

Edited on 3/11/2004 7:10 PM