--- title: Explore the Surprising Science Behind the Football Spiral description: How does a football spiral? Gravity is the trick. canonical: https://time.com/4060258/football-spiral-science/ author: Ainissa Ramirez article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-03T17:18:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-30T11:53:11.102Z article:section: Science og:title: Learn the Surprising Science Behind the Football Spiral og:description: A throw from a righty isn't quite the same as one from a lefty og:url: https://time.com/4060258/football-spiral-science/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte36e8c2d7ff5d37f/698866cbcd1bbaeca36fd7e3/gettyimages-88852701.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: GettyImages-88852701 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Learn the Surprising Science Behind the Football Spiral twitter:description: A throw from a righty isn't quite the same as one from a lefty twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte36e8c2d7ff5d37f/698866cbcd1bbaeca36fd7e3/gettyimages-88852701.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Learn the Surprising Science Behind the Football Spiral by [Ainissa Ramirez](https://time.com/author/ainissa-ramirez/) and [Salima Koroma](https://time.com/author/salima-koroma/) Oct 3, 2015 5:18 PM UTC  Getty Images by [Ainissa Ramirez](https://time.com/author/ainissa-ramirez/) and [Salima Koroma](https://time.com/author/salima-koroma/) Oct 3, 2015 5:18 PM UTC Football season is finally upon us, and with that, team pride, tailgating, and the perfect spiral. But how exactly does that spiral work? A good spiral throw makes 600 turns per minute—just as fast as a cd in a cd player. As the ball spins across the field, gravity pulls the nose of the ball downwards, and the direction the football changes slightly depending on which hand you use to throw it. Watch materials scientist Ainissa Ramirez explain the physics behind the perfect touchdown pass. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4060258/football-spiral-science/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4060258/football-spiral-science/"},"headline":"Learn the Surprising Science Behind the Football Spiral","datePublished":"2015-10-03T17:18:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T11:53:11.102Z","description":"How does a football spiral? Gravity is the trick.","url":"https://time.com/4060258/football-spiral-science/","keywords":["Football","Sports topic","Science topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte36e8c2d7ff5d37f/698866cbcd1bbaeca36fd7e3/gettyimages-88852701.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ainissa Ramirez","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ainissa-ramirez/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Salima Koroma","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/salima-koroma/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte36e8c2d7ff5d37f/698866cbcd1bbaeca36fd7e3/gettyimages-88852701.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"GettyImages-88852701","caption":"","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/football/","name":"Football"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4060258/football-spiral-science/","name":"Learn the Surprising Science Behind the Football Spiral"}}]}] ```