Carving It Up by Ariana Wilkinson

Ariana Wilkinson

Natural

"Carving it Up"

 

This is a picture that I took a couple years ago of my brother skiing in Portillo, Chile. The picture shows friction in action since friction plays a huge part in skiing. Friction is the dissipative force that counteracts motion as either kinetic or static friction and is proportional to the normal force. The normal force is the force perpendicular to a surface that pushes up on the object in contact with the surface. Friction=(Mk)Fn, Mk is the coefficient of kinetic friction and Fn is the normal force. The kinetic friction caused by the ski on the very top layer of snow is large enough to actually melt that layer of snow allowing the ski to literally slide over the top. The picture also shows the angle and cut of the ski very well. Modern skis are made with an hour glass like shape. This allows the skier to make carving turns when the ski is put on edge. When put fully on edge the ski makes a concave, bowl like shape in the snow forcing the ski to propel the skier across the slope.

Done