Walt wrote:

fotoobscura wrote:

Skii's take up less surface area. Less surface area == less friction
== more speed. There really is no arguing that.


Um....yes there is. Get out your Physics 101 text. Friction force is
equal to (weight) x (coefficient of friction). It's independent of
surface area. And since ski and snowboard bases are made out of the
same materials (ptex) the coefficient of friction is the same.

Yeah, well physics 101 is... inadequate usually, to explain the real
world. If the coefficient of friction is all there is to it, then
explain why drag racers use big, wide tires. Seems they could save a
lot of money using small skinny ones if that simple formula held true
all the time.

How snowboards and skis interact with the snow surface is probably more
fluid dynamics than anything else. It's complex, and I don't claim to
know much about it other than it can't be reduced to a coefficient of
friction and the weight bearing down on it.

Neil