ok folks, I need someone to answer a billiards question so I can finally be at ease. I was playing pool last night with a collegue and I posed this question:
Why does the cue ball always come back, when the numbered balls don’t?
Those of you who play billiards enough will know what I am talking about… is it size?[doubt it] weight? [maybe] can someone answer this?/
It’s either because of size (It’s usually a little bigger) or a magnetic core that separates it from other balls.
The size is also what makes it impossible to sink an object ball frozen against a cushion without applying english to the ball. Without any other spin, the cue will hit the ball at an angle, driving it into the cushion. For this reason, barroom tables are looked down upon by more discriminating billiards players.
At the bars I’ve played at, the cue ball is slightly heavier. It goes over a little balanced lever; the cue ball falls down, the other balls roll to the end of the table.
I was able to test this by testing how far the balls roll given an equal swing. I hit the cue ball into another ball, and then the other ball into the cue ball. The cue ball proved to be heavier.
We’ve been over this before - there are a variety of mechanisms for coin-op tables, including size and having the cue ball magnetic:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=23750