There is an excellent website by The Exploratorium that explains all about the
Physics of Skateboarding. They also have a bunch of cool pictures and videos, and even some activities and experiments that you can do at home.
Some other things you can think about are:
How do different shaped skateboards change the tricks you can do?
How do skateboards made of different materials change what you can do (ie. metal vs. wood, etc.)?
What different postures do you use when you're skateboarding? When
do you stand up or crouch down and why? Try having someone take photos
of you while you're skateboarding and see if you can explain what's
happening in each picture.
There's all sorts of things you can do as projects on this. Just
think about it...and be creative! Can you get some of your friends to
help you with their skateboards? See all the different tricks you can
all do and try to figure out how you do them. Good luck!
-Tamara
(published on 10/22/2007)
