Billiards Physics with Arcade ECS: Collisions, Friction and Spin
A build-along course that writes a billiards table on the same fixed step as the Space Golf series: balls that slide then roll, collide without passing through at break speed, bank off cushions, drop into pockets and take spin from the cue.
What We Will Cover
- Sliding, rolling and spin from the friction at one contact point
- Collisions that conserve momentum exactly, and why equal balls part at 90°
- Time of impact, so a break shot never passes through the rack
- Draw, follow, and the curve Coriolis described in 1835
- A ghost-ball aim line from the table's own step
This is Course 4 of the Newton to Space Golf series, and it stands on its own. You build a regulation billiards table in real units: balls that skid and then roll, collisions resolved at the exact moment of impact so nothing passes through at break speed, cushions, pockets, a cue that puts spin on the ball, and a ghost-ball aim line made by running the table's own step ahead of time. Every lesson pairs one scene change with one decision in the real code, tells the true story behind the idea, and has you break the code on purpose. Every code block is the actual published component source.