Physics of Downhill Ski Racing Essay -- physics sport sports skiing

Gliding is the art of maintaining the flattest ski in order to come upon the lowest possible friction. The intensitys associated with gliding are f denudely straightforward sombreness, friction, and air resistance. Air resistance has several inputs that add to the total resistive attract. clangor is caused by the lack of a perfectly smooth surface in the midst of the skis and snow on a microscopic level. Think of it as the bumpy Mountain range trying to slide over the Himalayas. On a microscopic level this is what friction is.Two factors contribute to the resistive frictional overstretch a normal force and the friction coefficient. The normal force is the force holding the soul up keeping them from falling towards the cracker of the earth. On level ground the normal force acts straight up against the acceleration of gravity. On a slope, the normal force is equal to the force of gravity proportional to the cosine of the angle of the slope to horizontal. This portion of grav ity attempts to accelerate the person toward the center of the earth, the normal force resists this acceleration. The remaining ingredient of gravity accelerates the body down the hill parallel to the slope, a running(a) acceleration.It is the coefficient of friction that speed skiers and racers try to load to a minimum. The normal force is a constant since it is related to their body weight, which does not change during the human body of the race. The coefficient of friction is already reduced from everyday levels because of the snow, but it is the goal of racers to reduce this to an absolute minimum to maximize speed.The coefficient of friction is a unit less(prenominal) ratio of the force of friction to the normal force. The real value for the coefficient is practically determined experimentally.... ...and the force normal to the shear plane. These two forces again resultant role in the same resultant force but are revolve into the shear plane. The angle of rotation into the shear plane is phi in higher up second diagram. Phi is the edge angle minus the angle in the trigon of the normal force(N) and the friction force(F) on the ski divided by 2. This raft be seen in the first diagram. The centripetal force can be found using the above equations in the second diagramFc=Fs*cos(phi)+Fn*sin(phi)Fn=Fs/tan(O-b-F)The Fc is the impuissance point at which the racer begins to slide the ski and lose speed. When a racer does balance the speed, radius, and other factors to maximize the centripetal force and acceleration, up to 2.5 Gs of acceleration can be achieved. Downhill ski racing is a ballet and balancing act of the laws of physics to be the fastest person down the hill.