His right foot is on the tail of the board and his left foot is near the middle of the board. In stage (1) of the Ollie, the skater is crouched down and is preparing to jump off the board. The blue arrows represent the force exerted on the board by the ground. The black arrow represents the force of gravity pulling down on the board (this force is acting through the center of mass of the board). The red arrows represent the force exerted on the board by the skateboarder's feet. The arrows represent the forces acting on the board during the different stages of the trick. The figure below illustrates the physics of the Ollie. The skateboarder then guides the board along with his feet as it flies through the air, enabling him to land back on top of it. This is accompanied by him pushing down quickly on the tail end of the board, causing it to rebound off the ground and bounce back up. The first action is the skateboarder jumping up and off the board. The beginning of the Ollie consists of two basic actions, occurring at roughly the same time. It is often used as the basis of other more complicated tricks. The Ollie is a fundamental skateboarding trick. To make the jump more challenging, the skateboarder can do the jump over an obstacle, as shown below.

This allows the skateboarder to land back on the board. As a result, its velocity is approximately the same as the horizontal velocity of the skateboarder. The friction force acting on the board as it rolls along (due to contact with the ground) is small and doesn't slow the board down appreciably. The horizontal component of velocity V h of the skateboarder stays the same since there is no force acting on him in the horizontal direction (neglecting air resistance). The physics behind this trick can be described by the equations of projectile motion, where only the vertical component of velocity changes, since gravity only acts in the vertical direction. If he pushes on the board with even the slightest horizontal force the board will shoot out either in front of him or behind him.Īfter the skateboarder jumps off the board, gravity takes over and he follows a parabolic arc as he flies through the air (as shown), before landing back on the board. In this trick the skater must propel himself up by pushing vertically down with his legs.

As a result, the board remains directly below him and he is able to land on top of it.

This allows him to fly through the air at the same horizontal velocity as the board (also moving at V h). He then jumps straight up without exerting any horizontal force on the board. In the hippie jump, a skateboarder rides along on a flat horizontal surface at a certain velocity V h. Physics Of Skateboarding – The Hippie Jump The physics behind several skateboarding tricks will be discussed. In addition to having an intuitive understanding gained from practice, understanding some of the physics theory behind the tricks and jumps can help make sense of the mechanics involved, which is particularly useful for those who are just starting out. It allows them to identify those key physics principles enabling them to properly execute certain moves, which is useful from a performance point of view. An understanding of the physics of skateboarding is useful to skateboarders when they do some of their tricks and jumps.

Ollie slow motion