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Physics of bobsledding

dspaker

Entry posted by dspaker

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Another one of my favorite Winter Olympic sports is bobsledding. Having done it once before I can say it is extremely thrilling, though I was not thinking of the physics involved at the time. Perhaps if I do it again I will be able to apply all of the physics I have learned. Some of these include friction, drag and momentum. There is almost no friction between the sled and the ice underneath. The sled has really thin runners that help to make it travel faster but it also means that it is very hard to steer. Drag is involved in bobsledding because it is created when air passes around the sled and slows it down. Drag can be minimized by designers making the sled as aerodynamic as possible. Momentum is involved in bobsledding because the momentum of an object is its mass times it's velocity. The more mass and the faster the bobsled travels, the better chance they have of winning. This is why it is important for them to have a good push off. Physics are really important to the sport of bobsledding because there are a lot of factors that contribute to a good bobsled run and they can all be figured out with physics.

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