Donate SIGN UP

Surf science

Avatar Image
stoo_pid | 12:46 Sun 07th Nov 2004 | How it Works
2 Answers

What's the science behind surfing (in the sea, not online)?  Obviously if you're surfing along a wave you keep going, but when the wave stops, you sink.  Scientifically speaking why does a moving body of water keep things afloat that would otherwise sink?

 

Gravatar

Answers

1 to 2 of 2rss feed

Best Answer

No best answer has yet been selected by stoo_pid. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.

For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
Surfing, the greatest spectator sport ever.  It's the momentum that SOMETIMES carries you forward.  It's the difficulty that makes it such fun.  There is an excellent explanation in the Stormrider book
Very simply, the board is moving "downhill" on the face of the wave, so the rider is using gravity on a sloping surface to get some forward momentum together, much as a car will roll down a hill. When the rider has the momentum, the board starts acting very like a powerboat, where there is hydrodynamic lift on the underside of the board which supports both it and the rider. When the board looses forward speed and so looses the hydrodynamic lift, it is reliant on hydrostatic displacement (Archimedes in the overflowing bath?). Since a surfboard only has a displacement of say 60 litres (wild guess) and you need 1 litre of displacement for every kilo of payload, more or less, the weight of the rider is going to sink the board.

1 to 2 of 2rss feed

Do you know the answer?

Surf science

Answer Question >>

Related Questions

Sorry, we can't find any related questions. Try using the search bar at the top of the page to search for some keywords, or choose a topic and submit your own question.