 Muscles are important in creating force when cross country skiing. Energy in the form of calories is burned. Photo courtesy: https://www.fix.com/blog/should-you-snowshoe-or-cross-country-ski/ |
Often when people think
of force, they think of Star Wars or perhaps
someone being bossy. However, forces are around us all
of the time, and the same is true for skiing. When
double poling, skiers push on the ground with their
poles in order to move forward. When skiers do this,
they are creating a force in the opposite direction that
they want to go. According to Newton's Third Law, the
action of pushing against the ground has an equal and
opposite force of the ground pushing the skier forward.
Skiers also create this force through the use of their
muscles when classic and skate skiing. The poling motion
for these different techniques may seem unique from each
other but no matter how skiers are using their poles,
the action/reaction pair of forces still cause them to
move in the direction they want to go. In addition, only
the horizontal range of motion matters to increase the
skier's speed. The vertical motion of the pole doesn't
contribute to the speed of the skier because the skier
is moving forward and not up. Skiers' legs also create forces with the ground in order to move the skier forward no matter if they are classic or skate skiing. Skate skiers use the edge of their ski to push off of in order to move forward. This action is very much like poling because it causes a reaction force with the ground. Classic skiing, however, relies more on friction with the snow but, in the end, the skier is still pushing against the ground to move forward. In order to stop their motion, skiers will push against the ground in the direction opposite to their motion. Skiers tend to stop using either of two techniques: a snow plow or a hockey stop. |
 A skier snow plowing to slow down. This action creates a force in a direction opposite to the motion of the skier. Photo courtesy: http://xcskiing.ca/beginners.html |
