tion
We recently published a paper [1] that describes how one may extract a soccer ball’s drag and
lift coefficients from trajectory analysis. Prior to our work, researchers investigated soccer
ball aerodynamics using wind tunnels [2–5] and computer models [6–11]. Trajectory analysis
work has been performed in other sports like tennis [12, 13] and baseball [14, 15]. Besides
acting as a technique complementary to wind-tunnel experiments, trajectory analysis allows
for the study of the aerodynamics of projectiles for researchers without access to expensive
wind tunnel machines. Trajectory analysis is also a valuable tool for examining aerodynamic
coefficients in parameter ranges not currently studied by modern wind tunnels. Our technique
is accessible to undergraduate and graduate science and engineering students looking to analyse
trajectories of rotating objects moving through fluids