121a0012 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SAįans often miss the subtleties involved in turning and steering. Skeleton racers don’t have a means of directly controlling the runners, so they must use subtle body movements to flex the sled and initiate turns. Though bobsled, luge and skeleton may look easy, in reality they are anything but. When athletes enter a turn at 80 mph (129 kph) they experience accelerations that can reach five times that of normal gravitational acceleration. Racers are dealing with a lot of kinetic energy and strong forces. Both gravitational potential energy and kinetic energy increase as weight increases, meaning there is more energy in a four-person bobsled team than there is in a one-person luge or skeleton for a given speed. The reason a flying baseball will shatter the glass if it hits a window is that the ball transfers its kinetic energy to the glass. The potential energy is converted to another form of energy once the object starts falling. Gravitational potential energy represents stored energy and increases as an object is raised farther from Earth’s surface. Riders in the sledding events reach their fast speeds because of the conversion of gravitational potential energy into kinetic energy. The track is roughly a mile long (1.6 km), drops 397 feet of elevation (121 meters) – with the steepest section being an incredible 18% grade – and comprises 16 curves. This year’s races are taking place at the Yanqing National Sliding Center.

Bobsled vs luge vs skeleton