The Physics Of Figure Skating

Possible? Possibly. True? No way!

Information relevant to the topic of each page will appear in this side bar. While they may have roots in true physics facts, you may want to take them with a large grain of salt.

 
Did You Know?

Since figure skating involves so many practical applications of physics, many figure skaters are actually physics majors. UAF's Patty Ice Arena even plans its Freestyle practice sessions around that semester's Physics classes.

Collin Lasley, Physics 212, April 2017

Physics and figure skating?

Skating has more ties to physics than the classic moment of inertia demo!

"By pulling in or pushing out their arms and free leg, an ice skater can speed up or slow down their spinning" may be one of the most common sentences among physics textbooks. While it is a good example of a practical application of physics, figure skating (and ice skating in general) has many more physics tie-ins than this single example!

But how do you know this?

The amount of time that I spend at ice rinks borders on unhealthy, and I have many opportunities to think about physics and skating together:

• I am a figure skater, and I have actually used knowledge from Physics 211/212 to fine tune my skating
• I teach ice skating classes, and try to use these concepts to help beginners figure out skating with less trial and error (and falling, though that is a good demonstration of kinetic energy in action!)
• I work as an all-around Ice Arena Supervisor at Patty Ice Arena, and I usually do my physics homework at work, so it is a prime location for the two trains of thought to mix.