Isabella
4th Kemmler
Alpine Skiing
What is Alpine skiing? Alpine skiing is a competitive sport, as players race down mountains, making swift turns. It makes me wonder, what is the history of Alpine skiing? To begin, skiing can be traced back to prehistoric times. Back in the day, people used skis in the war. They used them to attack faster. Have you ever gone to a carnival, and played one of those games where you have to shoot a moving target? It’s hard, isn’t it? That is because the targets are moving. Well it's the same with the skis. As you're skiing down the mountain, you would be a pretty hard target.
Skiing evolved in the 19th century. People in Russia stuck wooden planks to their feet resembling skis, which is how skis started to become popular. As you can see today, skis look a lot different. They are skinny, flat, and much easier to use. People now use poles to help guide themselves down the mountain.
The main goal of alpine skiing is to complete the course as fast as possible. The prize is a trophy, and a huge cash prize! Some people Just ski for fun. Although the cash is kind of nice…
Earlier today, I went ice skating. But every time I push off, I slow down again. That makes me wonder, why do you slow down when ice skating? Well to answer that question, I need to explain Newton's first law. Newton was a scientist that discovered the first law of motion. It is “ an object in motion will stay in motion until acted upon by an outside force.” or the other way around. “ an object at rest will stay at rest until acted upon by an outside force.”
Which finally leads us to the main question. There is more than one type of force. For example, there is applied force, gravity, drag, friction, magnetic, tension, spring, and buoyant. Spring force is like if you had a spring, and you pushed it down, it will FORCE back up. Gravity is another force. If you were to jump off a chair, gravity would pull you down again. What comes up must come down. Drag is one of my favorites .One way to demonstrate drag force is “ take a pillowcase, and run from one side of the room to another while timing yourself. Do the same with a plastic bag, and see which one takes longer. But if you're doing an experiment, you can only change one thing, and keep everything else the same.since you're changing the item you are holding, you need to keep everything else the same. Every experiment needs a base. So you need to compare the time without a bag or a pillowcase to the bag and pillowcase time. It's more likely that the plastic bag had the most force. Because the pillowcase has tiny holes in the fabric, it does not contain as much air as the plastic bag. So the plastic bag has the shortest time. Magnetic force is an interesting one. If you flip two magnets over, the magnets would force apart. Why does this happen? Because when facing the right way, the magnets PULL together. So if you flip them over they will PULL apart. Applied force is one of the most common forces. In fact you use it in everyday life.For example, if you push something, like if you pushed a chair into a desk, that's applying force to the chair to make it move. Buoyant force is an odd one. You know how in the ocean people use buoys to mark certain places. Like if a fisherman went to sea, and if he found an area full of fish, he would use a buoy to mark that spot. A buoy floats on top of the water to mark a certain spot. Tension is the last force that I'm naming. Tension force is like if you played tug of war, and your opponent let go,you would fall backward because of the force you were using.
Newton's first law applies to ALL sports. For example, alpine skiing is one of my favorites. Before you head down the mountain you APPLY force to start skiing. You also have to apply force when you use your pulls to move faster. There is very little friction on the ice, so you can move easier. Drag force also applies to alpine skiing. Most skiers wear hats, helmets, and other things to keep warm or to be safe. But there is another reason that players wear hats and other things. If you're skiing super fast, their hair is catching the wind, and pulling them back slightly. Sports aren't the only thing that use Newton's first law of motion. Everyday objects use Newton's first law all the time. For example, a water bottle has gravity acting upon it causing it to fall. If you're playing soccer, and you kick the ball, friction will slow it down. Friction is a force that slows down objects, such as the moving soccer ball.
Now that you know about Newton's first law, I might as well tell you about Newton's second law. To begin, Newton's Second law has multiple sections. Force, mass and acceleration. I'm gonna start with force. Force is something that pushes or pulls, to make an object move. Like if you were skiing at full speed, and you crashed into something, whatever you hit into, hits even harder because of how fast you were moving. You smash into it harder, because of how fast you are moving.
Now let us move on to Mass. Mass and weight are two different things. Weight is how heavy something is, and mass is what an object is made of. In alpine skiing, the gear you wear adds extra mass.so you have even more mass. Weight would be like, how heavy you are. Like, the more weight you have, the faster you would ski down hills because of gravity.
And last but not least, Acceleration. Acceleration is how fast or slow, or how an object changes direction. Like in alpine skiing, When you want to make a swift turn,you would turn your skis to create friction, to slow down, and change direction! The same thing applies when you want to stop. You turn your skis creating friction, to slow you down to a stop. Since alpine skiing is a race, players put polish on their skis to move faster. You move faster because there is less friction because of the polish.
What is Newton’s third law? Newton’s third law is every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Let’s break it down! What is an action?
An Action is any type of motion. Like skiing. And running, swimming, jumping, and every other sport involves action. An action is like moving. Or really any type of motion. An example of action is skiing.
What is a reaction? A reaction is the cause or effect of an action. What that means is Like if you kicked a soccer ball, the reaction would be that the ball moves. Or if you are swimming if you push off the wall the reaction would be that you get a boost and go faster.
Together, the cause and effect make Newton's third law. What are some examples of Newton’s third law? My sport is alpine skiing. Here are a few ways Newton’s third law applies to my sport. Action: You turn your skis. Reaction: you turn. Action: you push off with your skis. Reaction: You go faster. Action: you use your poles. Reaction: you slow down. And those are some examples of Newton’s third law in my sport. In conclusion, all three laws work together to make sports like alpine skiing.