The Physics Behind Figure Skating
Growing up as a child, I always went to the RDV and saw girls my age participating in figure skating. That is when my fascination began. However, I could not join because I was already committed to dancing. Additionally, a movie came out on Disney Channel when I was younger; it was called Ice Princess. The movie centered on a girl focused on physics and she had a similar project as mine: looking at the physics of ice-skating. As she spent time videotaping and making calculations she fell in love with the sport. When she tried it out she was a natural because she knew at which angles she needed to spin. My childhood inspired me to write my paper on figure skating. The three elements I chose to focus in on are friction, momentum, and Newton’s third law.
Friction plays a vital role in figure skating. “The biggest difference between dancing on a floor and skating on ice is the lack of friction”(Moskowitz, “The Physics of Figure Skating”). Ice provides less resistance against objects especially the skates. In addition to the less resistance, there is also a low level of friction. This …show more content…
This idea allows the skaters to glide on the ice. When skaters push off against the wall or the ice, they are putting a force down on the ground. The ground just gives a force upward and that drives the skaters to glide or jump. The friction of the ice causes the skater to glide easily only resists the forward push (Moskowitz, “The Physics of Figure Skating”). It was great to see the application of things we have learned and will learn in the near future. Watching from the window and understanding what actually goes into figure skating, are two completely different things. I did not realize how much physics goes into figure skating. It would be nice one day, after completing the course, to personally apply what I
Growing up as a child, I always went to the RDV and saw girls my age participating in figure skating. That is when my fascination began. However, I could not join because I was already committed to dancing. Additionally, a movie came out on Disney Channel when I was younger; it was called Ice Princess. The movie centered on a girl focused on physics and she had a similar project as mine: looking at the physics of ice-skating. As she spent time videotaping and making calculations she fell in love with the sport. When she tried it out she was a natural because she knew at which angles she needed to spin. My childhood inspired me to write my paper on figure skating. The three elements I chose to focus in on are friction, momentum, and Newton’s third law.
Friction plays a vital role in figure skating. “The biggest difference between dancing on a floor and skating on ice is the lack of friction”(Moskowitz, “The Physics of Figure Skating”). Ice provides less resistance against objects especially the skates. In addition to the less resistance, there is also a low level of friction. This …show more content…
This idea allows the skaters to glide on the ice. When skaters push off against the wall or the ice, they are putting a force down on the ground. The ground just gives a force upward and that drives the skaters to glide or jump. The friction of the ice causes the skater to glide easily only resists the forward push (Moskowitz, “The Physics of Figure Skating”). It was great to see the application of things we have learned and will learn in the near future. Watching from the window and understanding what actually goes into figure skating, are two completely different things. I did not realize how much physics goes into figure skating. It would be nice one day, after completing the course, to personally apply what I