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View Full Version : Skateboarding and mass relation


jbkieffer
Jan 9, 2010, 09:43 AM
How is the distance a skateboard rolls affected by the amount of mass on the skateboard?

Unknown008
Jan 9, 2010, 10:41 AM
Well, just think about it for a while. If you push the skateboard with nothing on it, it will go some distance, for sure. Now, let's go to another extreme. Imagine you succeed in placing a car (don't ask me how, just imagine it holds on it) on the skateboard. Apply the same force. Do you think the skateboard is going to go further than previously or move less.

If you can't still imagine it, put something heavier, I hope you'll eventually come to the good conclusion.

Could you post your finding? :)

InfoJunkie4Life
Jan 10, 2010, 01:52 PM
Physically speaking, it all has to do with momentum. A skateboard weighing 1kilo going 1m/s only has 1% of the momentum of a skate board weighing 100kilos and going 1m/s. Friction is what is slowing the skateboard down... the higher the momentum, the more work has to be down to slow it down.

Say friction is constant for both, the one with less momentum is losing speed at the same rate as the greater. This means that it takes longer for the heavier one to slow down.

That's the more technical version of Unknown's response.