Science Projects on the Physics of Skateboarding

Teach your students about physics using skateboards.

Your students will learn concepts quicker and more easily if they can apply them to activities they already enjoy doing. One popular activity your students might know about is skateboarding, and you can use this interest to teach them about physics concepts such as gravity, angular momentum and centripetal force by using specific science project designs.

Ollie

The ollie is usually one of the first skateboarding tricks a person learns, and you can use this jumping trick to teach your students about the effects of gravity, force, acceleration and speed. In one ollie science project, designate one student as the skateboarder. This person should know how to successfully complete an ollie. The other students should be the ones to measure how far the skateboarder travels when completing the ollie. Begin by having the skateboarder perform the trick at a standstill and measure the distance forward he traveled. In subsequent trials, have the skateboarder ride the skateboard toward the jumping point at 10-foot, 20-foot and 30-foot intervals and then perform the ollie. Did this riding distance influence the distance of the ollie?

Weight

You can also design skateboarding science projects for younger students just learning about physics or who may not know how to use a skateboard. One of these simple experiments can teach your students about the effect of weight on traveling objects. Have your students build a simple incline out of a piece of plywood, set a skateboard at the top of the incline, release it and measure the distance it travels. Then have them attach objects of progressively larger weight to the skateboard and release it down the incline. How did the added weight affect the travel distance of the skateboard?

Conservation of Angular Momentum

One skateboarding trick that more advanced riders can do is a frontside 180, wherein the rider launches off the top of a ramp, hangs in midair and then turns in midair to go back down the ramp. This trick shows the law of conservation of angular momentum: Your rotation will continue unless another force acts to stop you. So how does a skateboarder begin rotating in a frontside 180 if he isn't rotating to begin with. To figure this out, have your students jump straight in the air and while they're in the air point in a direction for them to turn. If they can turn, they've done what a skateboarder does in a frontside 180--turned while keeping their angular momentum at zero by canceling the rotation of their legs with an opposite rotation of their arms.

Pumping

In a half-pipe, skateboarders increase their speed and subsequently the height reached in a jump by using an energy-adding technique called pumping, wherein the rider crouches in the flat part of the half-pipe and then straightens his legs and torso as he enters the sloped part of the ramp. You can show how this technique works by using a coffee mug and some string. Tie three feet of string to the handle of a mug, hold onto the other end of the string with your left hand and hold onto the center of the string with your right hand. Start swinging the mug in an arc, but pull the string sideways with your left hand when it reaches the bottom of its arc. When the mug is at the top of its arc, release some of the string. The mug should swing higher and higher if you keep adding energy by performing this technique.

References

• Science Buddies: Popping an Ollie
• Kids Science Challenge: Skateboard Projects
• Exploratorium: Skateboard Science: Mid-Air Maneuver
• Exploratorium: Skateboard Science: Flying High