How skateboarders may seem to defy the laws of science!

Good day to all,

The subject I'm bringing for you today deals with my 2nd biggest passion in life : Skateboarding.

To give you a bit of background I have been skateboarding for 10 years now, and I've always considered this sport to be my first true love =)


This thread is made to bring up a detail that I've always been fascinated with ever since reading about it some 5-6 years ago. It goes like this ;


edit: For the idea I'm trying to explain, I will use the frontside 180 as an EXAMPLE.


In the skateboarding world, there is a trick called the Frontside 180. Simply put, as you rotate 180 degrees in the air, your front will be facing forward during the rotation.

Example: here (Video of a Frontside 180,never mind the audio and go straight to the 40 second mark)

Now what is so fascinating? The laws of science when it comes to rotations.

Most people know that the rule is : A body in rotation will not stop unless another force stops it.

In skateboarding, often enough you will see the skateboarder doing the 180 rotation, but they will stop rotating in mid-air, and safely land.

There are obviously some other rules that come in, but that fact, and also how we can manage to make the board spin, yet it sticks under our foot for a second or two is really what amazes me.

The other rule that seems to apply, as I just recently read about it, is called : Conservation of Angular Momentum

I found more about it on this website : Kidzworld website. By the way sorry I didn't find a more serious source.


So I wanted to share with you this little bit of science, and I would love to hear other examples where this applies, as I have yet to find any!

hahahahaha. i skate. and you're fascinated by a front 180?

www.youtube.com...

Originally posted by demetriandlucy
hahahahaha. i skate. and you're fascinated by a front 180?

www.youtube.com...

If you would've read more carefully, I'm amazed by the science that applies in skateboarding.


A switch lazerflip down 15 stairs is what amazes me.

reply to post by spaceshrimp


How does that board stay on your feet?

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
reply to post by spaceshrimp

 

How does that board stay on your feet?

May be you meant...under? That I haven't figured out yet. To be honest I didn't really research it, all I know is that when I do skateboarding tricks and it happens, I'm pretty proud of myself! I'll try to look into it.

there's no science to it? your feet grip the board and stop the board. the end. if you didn't have grip tape, a front 180 would be hard as hell.

Originally posted by demetriandlucy
there's no science to it? your feet grip the board and stop the board. the end. if you didn't have grip tape, a front 180 would be hard as hell.

I really think you're not getting this thread. I won't bother replying any further if your other posts will be similar.

i skated for about 10 yrs and always found it awkward to do anything frontside but i dont really agree with you.
i could do f/s 180's ok, but if youd have said f/s 360's then i'd agree, seeing people that theres definatly some phsysics bending involved.

Originally posted by neonitus
i skated for about 10 yrs and always found it awkward to do anything frontside but i dont really agree with you.
i could do f/s 180 ok, but if youd have f/s 360's then i'd agree, seeing people that theres definatly some phsysics bending involved.

What you said about f/s 360 is what I meant. 180's, backside or frontside are the basics of so many tricks, I just wanted to display the idea with a simple trick.

Originally posted by demetriandlucy
there's no science to it? your feet grip the board and stop the board. the end. if you didn't have grip tape, a front 180 would be hard as hell.

Grip tape does make the board stick to the bottom of your feet. Its not sticky paper. Its their to create resistance when sliding your feet while doing a trick or just riding the board. "there's no science to it?" Your kidding me right?

Originally posted by sabbathcrazy

Originally posted by demetriandlucy
there's no science to it? your feet grip the board and stop the board. the end. if you didn't have grip tape, a front 180 would be hard as hell.

Grip tape does make the board stick to the bottom of your feet. Its not sticky paper. Its their to create resistance when sliding your feet while doing a trick or just riding the board. "there's no science to it?" Your kidding me right?

Of course there's science to it. This thread is dumb lol.

Grip tape DOES make the board stick to the bottom of your feet. I'm assuming you left out "doesn't".

Originally posted by demetriandlucy

Originally posted by sabbathcrazy

Originally posted by demetriandlucy
there's no science to it? your feet grip the board and stop the board. the end. if you didn't have grip tape, a front 180 would be hard as hell.

Grip tape does make the board stick to the bottom of your feet. Its not sticky paper. Its their to create resistance when sliding your feet while doing a trick or just riding the board. "there's no science to it?" Your kidding me right?

Of course there's science to it. This thread is dumb lol.

Grip tape DOES make the board stick to the bottom of your feet. I'm assuming you left out "doesn't".

I really do not mind that you find this thread uninteresting. But it was meant to inform and show a side of skateboarding that not a lot of people look into, including skateboarders themselves.

If that's all that you have to contribute to it, you might as well not reply any further.Really.

Grip tape DOES make the board stick to the bottom of your feet

thats simply not true, anything you can do on an griptaped board you could still do on an un-gripped bored.
griptape just makes it , uhm lets say easier.
ps. im still not sure i get it, but the board acts as a pivot which connected to the hips, also a pivot.uh or something.

This thread doesn't make any sense.

The law you're talking about is in a controlled environment, where only one force is applied.

The body is able to dynamically modify it's force in mid-air, to change the direction in which you spin, land, etc..

There's nothing that defies any law of science.

This is just a terrible misunderstanding of the basics.

Originally posted by unityemissions
This thread doesn't make any sense.

The law you're talking about is in a controlled environment, where only one force is applied.

The body is able to dynamically modify it's force in mid-air, to change the direction in which you spin, land, etc..

There's nothing that defies any law of science.

This is just a terrible misunderstanding of the basics.

...or may be I should've chosen a better title for the thread?

reply to post by spaceshrimp


Yes, something like: how skateboarders may seem to defy the laws of science would be more apt, and taken more seriously on ATS.

Not trying to trip out, it just seemed a bit too sensationalist for my taste.

Enjoy your weekend.

BTW, I used to be able to land double kickflips about 95% of the time.

Originally posted by unityemissions
reply to post by spaceshrimp

 

Yes, something like: how skateboarders may seem to defy the laws of science would be more apt, and taken more seriously on ATS.

Not trying to trip out, it just seemed a bit too sensationalist for my taste.

Enjoy your weekend.

BTW, I used to be able to land double kickflips about 95% of the time.

Thank you I appreciate the feedback, and will make corrections! Enjoy your week-end too!

I think that I've talked about it enough, now I just want to go skateboarding!

I think the OP is thinking of similar forces that keep a cat on it's feet or when Michael Jordan did his signature dunk from the 3 point line.... You see this a lot. I see where he's coming from and probably the best way to address his question is... if you want to learn about the forces that skateboarders and other athletes use to seemingly defy gravity, look-up how cats do it... Good luck in your research bud

reply to post by demetriandlucy


Of course theres science to it. Theres physics involved in every movement you make, from your bowels to your balls. In fact the spinning airborne ballet that is skateboarding has always been heavily reliant on the laws of physics to perform the tricks that make the sport famous.

When I was a lad, I used to roller skate. I was never all that interested in doing tricks personaly, because I used the skates as a quick way to get around. But I always understood that skating and skateboarding were examples of sports where extreme feats of athletics and physics manipulation are a must.

But do not forget, that wether we do the calculations conciously or not, every thing we do in the physical universe involves physics, walking, talking, running, jumping, even typing on this keyboard right now. It all involves pivots, fulcrums, application of force, and an inherant, unconcious understanding of manipulation of our physical forms, in order to produce the results of every day existance.