When printing this document, you may NOT modify it in any way. Record this height in the data table and then fast-forward the video to where the ollie ended. Spanning from the ollie, all the way to jumping down 10 stairs. Skating also deals with tons of physics. “That is torque.”. Have you ever seen skateboarders in your city? In the project "Popping an Ollie" we look at the how to do the most basic trick, the Ollie, and the physics behind it. This video requires Flash. For help creating graphs, try this website: Try one of our science activities for quick, anytime science explorations. To keep the board from flipping out of control, you need your front foot to stop the rotation, keeping the board in control. Use the chalk to make a mark on the ground where the ollie will start. The primary goal was just to stay on and avoid collisions; given the humble equipment and rough road conditions, it was no small challenge. I thought that writing a project on the physics of skateboarding might interest a lot of students who think that science has no application in real life and just belongs in the laboratory. In a blur of flying acrobatics, skaters leap and skid over and onto obstacles, executing flips and turns of ever increasing complexity--all at top speeds. It is composed of three parts: (1) the board, (2) the wheels, and (3) the trucks, which connect the wheels to the board. As the board is rotating, the skater drags his or her forward foot up along the board. All safety equipment must be worn by the person performing the ollie. Divide the distance that the person rode to the first mark by the time that it took to get there (the time from the stopwatch). Use the meterstick and make the marks every 1/4 m, starting from the ground. The Ollie is the first step in more complicated tricks like the 360 kick flip. The volunteer needs to capture the person skating and performing the ollie in front of the wall. This is the speed that the skateboarder was going when he or she popped the ollie. What are the parts of a typical skateboard? Compared to a typical science class, please tell us how much you learned doing this project. Tesler, Pearl, and Doherty, Paul. I appreciate the … For any other use, please contact Science Buddies. Michelle Maranowski, PhD, Science Buddies. It’s skateboarding’s bread-and-butter move, a quick, seemingly simple move, overshadowed by all the crowd-dazzling, GoPro-dizzying flips and spins. This pulls the board higher up. Maybe one day It will be. Injury is possible. Then from here, you slide your front foot up to make the board level itself out. Do an ollie while rolling. Originated in the 1970s by Alan (Ollie) Gelfand, his eponymous move allows riders to jump up and over obstacles. We use cookies and those of third party providers to deliver the best possible web experience and to compile statistics. When a skateboarder decides to perform an ollie, the first step is to crouch down slightly. Shouldn't the board fall to the ground, along with the skater? Have the person skateboarding try to move at the same speed at which he or she rode the first time. you didn't get very high, did you?) The stopwatch is not needed in this step. You’ll find a link to “I Did This Project” on every project on the Science Buddies website so don’t forget to share your story! With no net force, the skateboard doesn't accelerate, but rolls along at a constant speed. Rewind the video and read the height of the ollie from the recording. Record all data in your lab notebook. You, or someone you know, must own a skateboard and safety equipment, and know how to skateboard to perform the ollie trick. Graph the data. showing Jonathan Perez from Circle-A Skateboards ollie over a city structure. This article on the physics of the ollie covers things in a different way than I do.

Special thanks to Jonathan Perez and Circle-A Skateboards in San Jose, California for advice and help testing this project. Use the meterstick to measure the distance. The following website belongs a well-known professional skateboarder, Tony Hawk, which has videos that show him performing very complicated tricks, like the 900. Follow him on Twitter at @tdnewcomb. I pulled one to show what they are getting at. See how high the experienced skateboarder (you, or someone you know) can go, and how far he or she can jump! (2020, June 23).