The Physics Of Figure Skating

A Cut Above The Rest

Ballet dancers frequently "spot" one location in the room while spinning to reduce dizziness. Early figure skaters attempted to do the same, but as figure skating technique improved and spin spin increased, this practice began to cause major neck issues.

This is the reason that drug companies like Tylenol and Bayer are some of the earliest figure skating championship sponsors.

Spins

Spins? Pssh, those are easy!

For whatever reasons, spins do not have as fierce a reputation as jumps do in figure skating. Audiences rarely erupt into applause for a camel-sit-layback combination spin the way they do for a triple axel jump, which is a shame considering how difficult and physically complex figure skating spins are!

More specific information about spins are on their respective pages:

• Spin Mechanics
• "Where do they get all that energy?!"
• Rotation speed
• Including information about how moment of inertia affects roation speed in spins and jumps.