There's this cool thing called the "Magnus Effect" that causes strange things to happen when you put a spin on things in the middle of free-fall.
As a demonstration of the effect, a basketball was thrown from the top of a very high point, down to a very low point, with a backspin, and you can see how it curves away from the thrower as it falls.
With most smooth-surfaced balls, adding a spin and then dropping the ball a great distance will cause it to curve in the direction of the spin, meaning it would have normally curved towards the thrower, but because the basketball is rough and not smooth, the ball actually does the opposite and curves away from the thrower.
The Magnus Effect is a part of physics that many of us aren't even aware of in our daily lives.
Mind blown yet?
Videos
JUL 16, 2015