MYTH: Tacky rubbers produce more spin

beeray1 wrote: tacky rubbers are inefficient for looping purposes? yeah, if you're a pussy.

Here is my take on the matter.

There is some truth in all the views of the posters.

Stickiness will slow down a ball. Drop a ball on a sticky rubber and watch it not bounce as high as a non sticky surface. You need to expend some energy to break the bond.

However, you can force the ball to bounce back the same height or even higher by moving the paddle. Stickiness is not a show stopper for imparting more energy into the ball on impact.

Roll a ball down a sticky surface. It will stop rolling very fast. Roll a ball down a grippy surface. It will roll pretty far. Roll a ball on a slick surface, it will not move.

So sticky rubbers will reduce rotational velocity of a ball. However, it doesn't mean that it will only reduce. It will also increase the rotational velocity in the correct movement. So, it can do both.

Spin reversal is a much debated subject and also a confusing term. If I top spin a ball to my opponent with a grippy rubber, the spin that comes back usually is a top spin. Why? If we look at the ball itself, it is actually spinning in the opposite direction (even if going and coming are topspin).

To explain this, I'll use an example where people can relate. Take a basketball and bounce it off the ground at an angle to your friend. Do not spin the ball yourself. Just a straight throw towards the ground. You will find that the ball will roll (rotate) after the bounce towards your friend. We just created a top spin on the basketball without spinning it. So we can impart spin on a ball just by tossing the ball at an angle on a grippy surface.

Now going back to ping pong, my topspin towards my opponent will probably have a lot of translational velocity (speed of the ball). This speed alone will impart the opposite spin (relative to my topspin) on contact of his grippy rubber at an angle. Here is where the spin reversal comes into play. The reason why the ball flies back to me instead of the ground (since his paddle is closed) is because my top spin grabs his rubber. This converts the rotational velocity to translational velocity and a change in direction.

With the added translational velocity and opposite spin, the ball returning back on my court has to hit the table. This will create more topspin to the ball, hence topspin to a grippy rubber, topspin back.


Now change it to a sticky rubber. If my opponent didn't move his paddle, the same topspin will come back slower and less spiny compared to the grippy rubber. However, if my opponent move his paddle in such a way that he uses the stickiness to impart more spin and more speed to the ball, there is no reason why the sticky rubber would lose to a grippy rubber.

If we think in terms of frictions, a sticky rubber would have higher static friction compared to a grippy one. No argument here. However, that doesn't mean a grippy rubber would have the same advantage on kinetic friction over a sticky rubber. My guess is they are about the same, probably grippy will have a slight advantage.

As a summary, I think tacky rubber have higher potential in imparting spin and speed compared to a grippy one. But an average player probably will have a hard time utilizing his rubber at full potential and thus it is a moot point trying to convince which is better.

Pros however are different. As someone pointed out, Chinese players have shown tacky rubbers to be at least as superior as grippy rubbers.



 


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Gulca, I m sorry...but I didn't read any of the long posts..they r wayy too long...but let me tell u, what u see, isn't always true.  For instance, if u use tacky technique on grippy rubbers...u wont use it to its maximum and vice versa.  The right technique with grippy rubber is to tighten your grip right before impact..and stop the blade from moving right when the ball leaves.  The right technique with tacky rubber is rolling the ball...provides MUCH more control...this is with hard sponge though.  With softsponge and tense topsheet...it is more of a hybrid. 

its not that I dont want to read...its that I m unable to...I got headaches and sh*t...I can read a novel if it doesn't involve thinking..lol...but I'll give it a shot...and if I do end up reading it...I'll reply.

Tacky also allows for greater placement, returns, and just over all consistency.  Hence secret to the Chinese superiorness: Power is nothing without control.

ffx-me, point agreed, but their argument was, why would chinese use this equipment if they knew it was inferior.  And there is my reply.  Obviously everyone would agree that tacky is not as speedy.  To me thats proof enough because spin is just angular speed.(No difference)

i hate ignorant people who claims to know many things when they do not! 

JKC i agree, and how in the hell is a chinese rubber not affected by incoming spin when it is sensitive to opponent's spin.. maybe this 12 yr old wannabe hasnt met a player who can spin a chinese rubber better than his euro rubber ..... such ignorance

sidofmillenium wrote: ffx-me, point agreed, but their argument was, why would chinese use this equipment if they knew it was inferior.� And there is my reply.� Obviously everyone would agree that tacky is not as speedy.� To me thats proof enough because spin is just angular speed.(No difference) � Now, here is the spinniest balls European loopers have produced:� � Singleshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BirfeFuFAA&feature=related Doubleshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeZ3IkUHNV0 � Also, if u watch the latest�match between ovtcharov and Joo Se Hyuk, no one has ever made Hyuk lob because spin was so heavy!!!

anyone can do this. look at the angle of the blade, as well as the racket's path. everyone knows sriver that has been glued 20 times over could be one of the spinniest rubbers in the game. Any decent player can do this. Your point and thread are invalid.

sidofmillenium wrote: it is very possible for all the deaf to believe noise doesn't exist.

It is very nice quote. You said it right, but you did not know how to use it. LOL

Once in a german forum Schlager himself talked about the chinese, and that everytime he would play them, he d always have to get used to the increased spin the first set. So much for reality.

FACT: TACKY RUBBERS SPIN MORE THAN NON TACKY RUBBERS. control is not an issue here or the speed just the fact that tacky rubbers spin more