Snowboard Science: Physics, Friction, Momentum, Air Resistance, X-games

Summer is here! I have posted a couple of times about skateboard math and skateboard science this week. So it's time to flip the script - snowboarding science. Yesterday afternoon I was browsing through a snowboarding forum and somebody posted this question about the physics of snowboarding:

Hey all,

I was having this discussion with my roommate on snowboard physics and couldn't agree on an answer, so here I am. Here's the question.

Which snowboarder will get to the bottom of a hill faster, considering they are same weight, etc. The snowboarder who pumps with his legs to do jumps and rely on less friction in his air jumps, or the snowboarder who continues forward and doesn't lose momentum by jumping and hitting the ground over and over again and keep a slick friction. Keep in mind that the jumps are leg pump jumps, not ramp jumps. Thanks!

Well blog reader, what do you think?

A few factors to consider are:

• Air resistance
• Friction on the snow
• Gravity

Think about how each of the three factors will come into play for each rider. And then think about what you have seen top boardercross racers do in the X-games. The discussion continues here.

This post was done by WD at Limelight Education in San Diego, CA.

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