Equations can hurt, although not as much as wiping out on the downhill or faceplanting in the halfpipe. On Dot Physics, Rhett Alain explains the amazing angles at which Apolo Ohno leans around the short track, writing "a skater wouldn't have to lean at all if the skater was stopped. As the angle gets smaller (approaching zero), the skater would have to be going faster and faster." On Built On Facts, Matt Springer investigates the somewhat more subdued sport of curling, where men with brooms lead forty pound stones to their targets. Crunching numbers, Matt concludes that "granite on vigorously swept ice" produces less friction than "teflon on teflon." And back on Dot Physics, Rhett draws up some colorful diagrams of ski jumps, explaining that although you wouldn't want to jump off an eleven-meter building, "you can make it survivable if you increase the time over which the change in velocity takes place." In other words, those athletes can be thankful they're landing on a sloped surface.
Links below the fold.
- Apolo Ohno Physics on Dot Physics
- The Physics of Curling on Built on Facts
- Ski jump landing and acceleration on Dot Physics