Hyperdimensional Discus?

[Hornbein]

If you have four spatial dimensions then a discus won't fly very well. A 4D discus or Frisbee has three large horizontal dimensions and one smaller vertical one. Spinning such a disc stabilizes only two horizontal dimensions. The disc is unstable in the other two dimensions so there is a tilt that can't be controlled. The disc will roll over and lose lift.

 

[Klystron]

If you have four spatial dimensions then a discus won't fly very well. A 4D discus or Frisbee has three large horizontal dimensions and one smaller vertical one. Spinning such a disc stabilizes only two horizontal dimensions. The disc is unstable in the other two dimensions so there is a tilt that can't be controlled. The disc will roll over and lose lift.

I threw my Wham-O Pro Classic Frisbee with my granddaughter this morning trying to visualize the 4th spatial dimension stability problem without notable success. We did notice the 3D fractal dimensions of the disc design between the bulging rim and the horizontal flat central section.

The Pro Frisbee includes 16 annular rings/grooves mounting from the curved rim to a single wider shallow groove where the flat interior top begins. We suppose these grooves provide some aerodynamic stability during (vertical?) flight in addition to the gyroscopic (horizontal) stability of the rotating disc. Note that the flexible disc deforms when thrown then flattens in flight, adding to the fractal nature of the disc geometry.

 

[Hornbein]

I threw my Wham-O Pro Classic Frisbee with my granddaughter this morning trying to visualize the 4th spatial dimension stability problem without notable success. We did notice the 3D fractal dimensions of the disc design between the bulging rim and the horizontal flat central section.

The Pro Frisbee includes 16 annular rings/grooves mounting from the curved rim to a single wider shallow groove where the flat interior top begins. We suppose these grooves provide some aerodynamic stability during (vertical?) flight in addition to the gyroscopic (horizontal) stability of the rotating disc. Note that the flexible disc deforms when thrown then flattens in flight, adding to the fractal nature of the disc geometry.

View attachment 324094

My first disc was embossed with

Flat flip flies straight. Tilted flip curves. Experiment!

 

[Klystron]

My first disc was embossed with

Flat flip flies straight. Tilted flip curves. Experiment!

Cool. I threw my first Wham-O Frisbee the Summer of 1958, made in California. The story goes that Southern Californians threw for distance, us Bay Area kids tried for maximum lift and hover time.

I have 'frisbeed' (verb) just about any object with a flat surface that I could throw and spin including aluminum pie plates, plastic dinner plates, playing cards, wooden boomerangs, knives and hatchets, even pieces of drywall. I store the disc in the above picture under the seat of my truck just in case.

When young and strong I would fling a disc at an angle from Santa Cruz beach out over the Pacific Ocean until it nearly disappeared then catch it when it boomeranged back to shore. Aerodynamic.

 

[Hornbein]

Cool. I threw my first Wham-O Frisbee the Summer of 1958, made in California. The story goes that Southern Californians threw for distance, us Bay Area kids tried for maximum lift and hover time.

I have 'frisbeed' (verb) just about any object with a flat surface that I could throw and spin including aluminum pie plates, plastic dinner plates, playing cards, wooden boomerangs, knives and hatchets, even pieces of drywall. I store the disc in the above picture under the seat of my truck just in case.

When young and strong I would fling a disc at an angle from Santa Cruz beach out over the Pacific Ocean until it nearly disappeared then catch it when it boomeranged back to shore. Aerodynamic.

I invented the world's farthest flying disc. Take a 150gr golf disk and fill it with foam plastic. 20% more distance.