The Physics of Skateboarding

Design
Board: 7 plies of sugar maple wood
Combined with polyvinyl glues Compressed at 300 psi (2.06 x 106) for up to an hour Concave design tails at about 200 angle Covered in Grip Tape

Wheels
Urethane: abrasion resistance, high traction and resiliency (restores shape after deformation and adds shock absorption) Turn about ball bearings

Design
Trucks:
Axle, base plate, pivot point Axle pivots on two urethane cushions Allow wheels to swing in predefined arc

Riding
Push off of the ground with back foot Turn by leaning left or right More common turn uses back wheel as pivot for axis of rotation

Very Brief History

Early Skateboarding:
No one left the ground without ramps Power sliding Manuals Long Boarding

Rodney Mullen invents the Ollie

Design changes

The Ollie
Rider begins with back foot on back fin Crouches to allow more room for vertical acceleration Puts downward force on back fin as he jumps up Front of board pops up

The Ollie
Skateboard accelerates vertically due to force of the riders jump Front foot pulls the board vertically using friction between the shoe and grip tape Front foot pushes front end down, back end rises to meet back foot Creates illusion of the board being connected to the riders feet

Spin (Rider with the Board)

Rider begins turn before jump, pushes off at an angle

Skateboard rises off at same angle

Or rider turns in mid air by rotating upper and lower body in opposite directions: small torque on arms translates to large one on legs
L = iw = p x r i of arms > i of legs w of arms < w of legs Thus angular momentum is conserved

The Kickflip
During ascent, rider kicks down on side of the board his foot is closest to Cause a rotation about the axis from fin to fin (long axis) Spin occurs during ascent, should meet riders feet at peak height, after already having completed the spin Heelflip: Board is flipped at opposite end with outward kick of the heel

Shove-it and Hard Flip

Board rotates about axis perpendicular to the board, through the center Riders pivots back wheels and then pushes down on the fin Hard to do while not moving, as front foot does not use friction to bring board up Hard flip rotates about axis through the center, parallel to the board

Grinding
Moving on a surface without using the wheels must overcome static friction Can grind on Trucks or the bottom of the deck (board slide) Rider contacts pole at peak of jump Trucks have greater coefficient of kinetic friction than the board with most surfaces Friction between two metals is less than that between cement and metal

Vert Skating
Performed on a halfpipe
U-shaped, only ends are actually vertical Sloped part is transition

Increasing Speed
Rider pumps on half pipe
Crouches down going into bottom of pipe Raises up coming out of bottom

Creates smaller radius about which the rider rotates

L= r x p Smaller radius means more momentum

Increasing Speed
To go higher, rider must do work Rider works against centripetal force to raise himself while coming out of the pipe
He does work which leads to a net energy gain

Larger ramps increase speed by increasing centripetal force against which rider rises
More work translates to greater kinetic energy

Eventually, energy added with each pump cannot overcome energy lost to wind resistance

Records
Highest flight off a half pipe: 23.5 ft = 7.16 m
V2 = Vo2 - 2a (distance traveled) Left Half pipe at 11.85 m/sec

Longest jump: 75 ft = 22.87 m

Horizontal range equation, R=(Vo2/g)sin2() He would have been going 14.97 m/sec

Both set by Danny Way at 2004 XGames

Ramp had 49 foot drop in and 20 foot quarter pipe

Records

The Loop
Tony Hawk is the only Rider to have completed a loop Slowest speed needed to remain in contact a = V2/R, R = 5.49 -F(normal) F(gravity) = m(-a) = m(-V2/R) On verge of losing contact, F(normal) = 0 Thus -g = - V2/R, and v = (gR) = 7.334 m/s

Falling
Mostly due to rider putting to great a horizontal force on the board Occurs frequently with grinding

References
http://www.exploratorium.edu/skateboarding/ http://skateboarddirectory.com/articles/478516_the_physics_of_the_ollie.ht ml http://kingfish.coastal.edu/physics/projects/2000_Spring/skateboarding/ http://www.dannyway.com Halliday et al. Fundamentals of Physics 7th Edition. Wiley International Edition, 2005.