How skateboarders may seem to defy the laws of science!

Originally posted by spaceshrimp
Good day to all,


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

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!

edit on 16-7-2011 by spaceshrimp because: (no reason given)

edit on 16-7-2011 by spaceshrimp because: (no reason given)

edit on 16-7-2011 by spaceshrimp because: (no reason given)

i skate boarded in my much younger days.

1-long ago i taught sports to young children, on lesson one the basics, balance is in the shoulders.
if using your shoulders when air borne you can affect rotation by using your legs and butt as a weight to pull against.

even my little house rabbit loves to jump in the air, stop and rotate 180 and land going the other way


2-as to the board under your feet, when an object(skateboard) in motion comes to rest, it takes a split second before gravity will pull it downward.
gravity is slow, an athlete can move very fast.

here is one place where this physic also apply:

mountain climbing in the days before safety concerns, i decided to find a new way down the mountain.

i walked along a narrow ledge, until i came to a crack in the mountain(called chimney).

at a lost as to what to do, as usual i sang to the mountain.
"little mountain, little mountain, tell me what to do.
little mountain, little mountain, tell me what to do."

it came to me that i was to glide down the chimney.
i noticed that after about 30 feet one side of the chimney was missing.
but there was a ledge about 12 feet from it, to the side.

if i slid down, stopped(using my sneakers) before the chimney no longer had two side, repelled off the mountain, land on the other small ledge, i could save an hour climbing down the mountain.

then i remembered all the people that wipe out in the Olympics when landing backwards.
i was 4,000 feet up on a granite mountain.

i said, no negative thoughts, if this was tv it would work and laughed.

got in the chimney, using my feet kept the decent slow, stopped totally before one side of the chimney ended.

let go of the chimney side with my right hand, turned my body towards the left side of chimney and gently pushed off.

landed on the ledge(about 2 feet wide).

and spent about 15 minutes laughing, it had worked.
i had listened to the mountain and it told me what to do.

if you think of me as the object(skateboard), when i stopped gliding down, before gravity started pulling me downward, i had time to turn around 90 degrees and repel before gravity pulled me downward toward the ledge.

it's actually very simple, hope i didn't confuse you.

Skateboarding IS physics, pure and simple.

Griptape adds 'grippage' skating an un-gripped board is not impossible, just different.

My favourite trick: Hardflip or FS 180 flip.

Originally posted by citizen6511

Originally posted by spaceshrimp

edit on 16-7-2011 by spaceshrimp because: (no reason given)

edit on 16-7-2011 by spaceshrimp because: (no reason given)

edit on 16-7-2011 by spaceshrimp because: (no reason given)

i skate boarded in my much younger days.

1-long ago i taught sports to young children, on lesson one the basics, balance is in the shoulders.
if using your shoulders when air borne you can affect rotation by using your legs and butt as a weight to pull against.

even my little house rabbit loves to jump in the air, stop and rotate 180 and land going the other way


2-as to the board under your feet, when an object(skateboard) in motion comes to rest, it takes a split second before gravity will pull it downward.
gravity is slow, an athlete can move very fast.

here is one place where this physic also apply:

mountain climbing in the days before safety concerns, i decided to find a new way down the mountain.

i walked along a narrow ledge, until i came to a crack in the mountain(called chimney).

at a lost as to what to do, as usual i sang to the mountain.
"little mountain, little mountain, tell me what to do.
little mountain, little mountain, tell me what to do."

it came to me that i was to glide down the chimney.
i noticed that after about 30 feet one side of the chimney was missing.
but there was a ledge about 12 feet from it, to the side.

if i slid down, stopped(using my sneakers) before the chimney no longer had two side, repelled off the mountain, land on the other small ledge, i could save an hour climbing down the mountain.

then i remembered all the people that wipe out in the Olympics when landing backwards.
i was 4,000 feet up on a granite mountain.

i said, no negative thoughts, if this was tv it would work and laughed.

got in the chimney, using my feet kept the decent slow, stopped totally before one side of the chimney ended.

let go of the chimney side with my right hand, turned my body towards the left side of chimney and gently pushed off.

landed on the ledge(about 2 feet wide).

and spent about 15 minutes laughing, it had worked.
i had listened to the mountain and it told me what to do.

if you think of me as the object(skateboard), when i stopped gliding down, before gravity started pulling me downward, i had time to turn around 90 degrees and repel before gravity pulled me downward toward the ledge.

it's actually very simple, hope i didn't confuse you.

edit on 17-7-2011 by citizen6511 because: technical

edit on 17-7-2011 by citizen6511 because: technical

wow thanks for that post! It did help to make sense of a few things! It just goes to show how the human body can perform things! It didn't confuse me one little bit. Thanks for your input!

Originally posted by spaceshrimp

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.

edit on 16-7-2011 by spaceshrimp because: (no reason given)

But you aren't showing a side of skateboarding at all... you are suggesting there is unknown or physics breaking effects within your mystical sport.

This is called lacked of understanding or delusion. There is very well science behind it all...

I.E.

What stops a skateboarder from spinning is called counter weight. It's really that simple.

(Doesn't make the sport any less amazing... cuz it is -- but damn dude... stop stretching.)

Originally posted by spaceshrimp

Originally posted by citizen6511

Originally posted by spaceshrimp

edit on 16-7-2011 by spaceshrimp because: (no reason given)

edit on 16-7-2011 by spaceshrimp because: (no reason given)

edit on 16-7-2011 by spaceshrimp because: (no reason given)

i skate boarded in my much younger days.

1-long ago i taught sports to young children, on lesson one the basics, balance is in the shoulders.
if using your shoulders when air borne you can affect rotation by using your legs and butt as a weight to pull against.

even my little house rabbit loves to jump in the air, stop and rotate 180 and land going the other way


2-as to the board under your feet, when an object(skateboard) in motion comes to rest, it takes a split second before gravity will pull it downward.
gravity is slow, an athlete can move very fast.

here is one place where this physic also apply:

mountain climbing in the days before safety concerns, i decided to find a new way down the mountain.

i walked along a narrow ledge, until i came to a crack in the mountain(called chimney).

at a lost as to what to do, as usual i sang to the mountain.
"little mountain, little mountain, tell me what to do.
little mountain, little mountain, tell me what to do."

it came to me that i was to glide down the chimney.
i noticed that after about 30 feet one side of the chimney was missing.
but there was a ledge about 12 feet from it, to the side.

if i slid down, stopped(using my sneakers) before the chimney no longer had two side, repelled off the mountain, land on the other small ledge, i could save an hour climbing down the mountain.

then i remembered all the people that wipe out in the Olympics when landing backwards.
i was 4,000 feet up on a granite mountain.

i said, no negative thoughts, if this was tv it would work and laughed.

got in the chimney, using my feet kept the decent slow, stopped totally before one side of the chimney ended.

let go of the chimney side with my right hand, turned my body towards the left side of chimney and gently pushed off.

landed on the ledge(about 2 feet wide).

and spent about 15 minutes laughing, it had worked.
i had listened to the mountain and it told me what to do.

if you think of me as the object(skateboard), when i stopped gliding down, before gravity started pulling me downward, i had time to turn around 90 degrees and repel before gravity pulled me downward toward the ledge.

it's actually very simple, hope i didn't confuse you.

edit on 17-7-2011 by citizen6511 because: technical

edit on 17-7-2011 by citizen6511 because: technical

wow thanks for that post! It did help to make sense of a few things! It just goes to show how the human body can perform things! It didn't confuse me one little bit. Thanks for your input!

This is also equally as silly.

I don't know what is more silly, the fact that you prepose you can move and react faster than gravity that is in effect literally ALL the time... or the fact that you risked your life on a stupid idea that was founded on the principle of "If this was a TV show it would work."

You don't understand gravity... as it's a constant... meaning even when things are traveling upwards... they are CONSTANTLY fighting the resistance of gravity. In order to move upward it has to have upward momentum stronger than the downward momentum of gravity. Gravity doesn't kick in or shut off... EVER, it's always on... permanently until anti-gravity machines are real.

This is quite literally "Rocket Science" as it's a very core principle in getting a rocket into orbit... (or even lifting off... for that matter.)

Originally posted by Laokin

Originally posted by spaceshrimp

Originally posted by citizen6511

Originally posted by spaceshrimp

edit on 16-7-2011 by spaceshrimp because: (no reason given)

edit on 16-7-2011 by spaceshrimp because: (no reason given)

edit on 16-7-2011 by spaceshrimp because: (no reason given)

This is also equally as silly.

I don't know what is more silly, the fact that you prepose you can move and react faster than gravity that is in effect literally ALL the time... or the fact that you risked your life on a stupid idea that was founded on the principle of "If this was a TV show it would work."

You don't understand gravity... as it's a constant... meaning even when things are traveling upwards... they are CONSTANTLY fighting the resistance of gravity. In order to move upward it has to have upward momentum stronger than the downward momentum of gravity. Gravity doesn't kick in or shut off... EVER, it's always on... permanently until anti-gravity machines are real.

This is quite literally "Rocket Science" as it's a very core principle in getting a rocket into orbit... (or even lifting off... for that matter.)

edit on 17-7-2011 by Laokin because: (no reason given)

when a body is still, inertia, acceleration needs to take effect before you fall at full speed.
1st second 16ft/sec, by 3rd sec 80ft/sec(many theories and formulas about gravity acceleration).

when your body is under the effect of torque motion, you can counter with your shoulders producing a counter force.

[from wikipedia

Another form of inertia is rotational inertia (→ moment of inertia), which refers to the fact that a rotating rigid body maintains its state of uniform rotational motion. Its angular momentum is unchanged, unless an external torque is applied; this is also called conservation of angular momentum. Rotational inertia depends on the object remaining structurally intact as a rigid body,]



your body is not rigid, it can produce force to act on rotation.
like cats fall mostly on their feet, but yes they still fall.
.
the closer your body is to the state of inertia, the smoother your landing.