Watch: Basketball soars high because of 'Magnus Effect'

What happens if you throw a basketball from a 415-foot-high dam? It flies. Reason? The Magnus effect.

Physicist Gustav Magnus described the effect of air applying forces to the objects and how it works in 1852 hence naming it the Magnus effect.

The video by Veritasium, explaining this effect, went viral. In the video, first the ball is dropped randomly from the dam and then with a back spin. With the back spin, the ball soared like a bird before hitting the water.

"I literally just dropped it with a bit of spin, like, I didn't even throw it and it just took off, we had no idea it was going to do that," the guy who threw it said.

This is the same effect causing those spectacular curve balls in football, golf, baseball and tennis!

On a bigger scale, Magnus effect can be used to propel boats while reducing the consumption of diesel.

The trick basketball team was atop the Gordon Dam in Tasmania to set the world record of highest basketball shot.