Edge effects in skiing

Edge effects are the different movements and actions that occur due to the way your edges are being positioned and the way that your edges are in contact with the snow. Their existence depends on the angle at which you are skiing, the snow conditions and the forces that are going through the edges themselves. There are actually four different effects that your edges can cause. The first one is the effect of making your skis accelerate down a slope. The importance of this is pretty obvious; however, it is not the only effect that can be caused. There are also three other edge effects which are: the effect of keeping a ski at a constant velocity as it travels down a slope, the effect of making a ski decelerate as it travels down a slope, and the effect of stopping a ski so that it doesn't travel any further sideways down a slope. canada catskiing

 

 

 

In order for a ski to accelerate sideways as it travels down a slope, the gravitational force must be greater than the vertical component of the reaction force from the snow. There are 2 main ways in which this happens. The ski can be tilted at an angle down the slope, so that the reaction force is not acting in the opposite direction. This means that the vertical component of the reaction force must be smaller than the gravitational force, and that there is a sideways component that will also push the ski down the slope, resulting with the ski accelerating down the slope. The other way is for the ski to be flat to the gravitational force, with the reaction force created acting in the opposite direction to gravity, but with the snow not being strong enough to support the full gravitational force. The snow then gets pushed down the slope by the ski, letting the ski accelerate down the slope.

 

 

 

For this to happen the reaction force must cancel out the gravitational force and leave no forces left over to cause an acceleration in any direction. Again there are 2 main ways in which this can happen. The first way is very simple, the ski is flat to the gravitational force, with the reaction force is in the opposite direction to gravity, and the snow supporting the ski so that the reaction force is the same magnitude as the gravitational force. This leaves no left over forces and will keep the ski traveling at a constant velocity. The other ways is to have the ski leant up the slope slightly so that the reaction force from the snow has a component that acts sideways up the slope. This component acts as resistance against the skis velocity and makes the skis momentum produce a force. As the reaction force is not vertical the vertical component of the reaction force due to gravity is not strong enough to counteract the gravitational force, but as the ski is opposing momentum as well there is a reaction force due to momentum that needs to be added. To make the ski continue down the slope as a constant speed, the vertical component of the reaction forces due to both gravity and momentum combined cancel out the gravitational force, with the acceleration due to gravity and deceleration due to momentum also canceling each other out. canada cat skiing