Sleigh Design

[Guest]

Hi there

 

Im going to be building pretend sleighs out of blocks with the children. I have printed out lovely pictures of sleighs, and I would like to draw their attention to the fact that they are all curved. Except that if I dont know myself why they are built like that. Im sure its something to do with ergonomics??? or the ability to get through snow, because I know that skis are also built with a curve upwards.

 

Sorry, having a blonde moment .

 

Any ideas??

 

G.

[Guest]

hmmm, well aerodynamics (spelling??) enables objects to travel through air so could it be snowodynamics

 

just thought, Santa's sleigh does travel (fly) through the air

 

is the aim educational fact or fantasy?

 

is the curve of a ski to help glide over the snow? or do they work like a snow plough and push the snow away to the side?

 

hopefully you will get some sensible answers from ski experts soon.

 

Peggy

[Guest]

Imagine if they were flat - like planks of wood. Now imagine when you stub your toe

 

(Stay with me on this!)

 

The planks of wood would simply get 'stubbed' on the snow, slowing them down, and the snow would build up on the top of the planks as it was pushed over the top.

 

Not terribly scientific, but good reasoning!

[Guest]

Hey! Just a thought, but if we get the snow they keep on about you could do an experiment to see which designs work best in the snow. Or failing that you could do something similar with flour - the effect would be similar as the flat surface would push through the flour rather than over it, causing the flour to build up on the surface, which in turn adds weight to the sleigh & makes it slower.

[Guest]

Perhaps with all this snow around - someone could get out there and experiment = devon had loads of snow overnight - here in surrey we wait.

Nikki

[Guest]

Now that's why this forum is great - those are all very sensible explanations and ones which I will use to start a discussion with the children - thanks everyone