A push, my friends, is a ball-in-hand foul. But understand, I’m not talking about the push-shot sometimes used in the first shot of a 9 ball game. I’m talking about the scenario where the shooter is presented with his cue ball frozen up against another object ball. Players with some knowledge of how to play pool right will still often make a critical error here, and foul the shot without understanding why.
The idea is that a legal hit on the cue ball is one where the leather tip strikes the cue for only a micro-second before the cue ball rapidly goes into motion. Any other kind of contact is considered to be a foul. Thus, in an earlier article, I discussed the physics of a double-hit and why it needed to be considered a foul. Physics takes a play in a push, as well.
When two balls are frozen together, and you aim generally through the center of both, a push occurs when you strike the first ball, regardless of whether you are trying your damndest to prevent it from happening. Physics takes the energy of your strike, applies it to the first ball, which then tries to go in motion. Because it is frozen to the object ball, the cue will instantly transfer its accumulated energy to the object ball.
The object ball then goes into motion while the cue, spent of energy remains in place, still touching the leather tip. Like I said, this all happens in a fraction of a second.
So, contact between the tip and the cue ball continues for more fractions of a second. The cue stick, having enough energy after contacting the cue ball to remain in motion, stays in motion (while now frozen for that split-second to the cue ball) and pushes the cue ball ahead of it. As the stick slows down, the cue ball, revitalized with energy rolls forward once again.
It is this stolen, second dose of energy that necessitates the rule of a foul-hit. Under ordinary circumstances the cue ball could never naturall...
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