Ending Break with a Bang: Ice Skating

Ice skating, a family friendly and safe fun winter activity...  as long as you stop before you painfully crash into the boards.

BANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In this video, we have Nate traveling a total distance of 3.25 meters in 4 seconds. He pushes off the ice for 2 seconds, traveling a distance of 0.75 meters and then glides a distance of 2.5 meters in 2 seconds straight into the boards of the rink.

Newton's Laws of Motion and Ice Skating

This video of Nate gliding across the ice into the boards demonstrates Newton's laws of motion. 

          Newton's first law of motion states that "every object persists in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed on it." Nate, who was initially at rest, needed a force in order for him to move. Without a force, Nate stays on the ice, unable to glide, unless he is pushed by someone or pushes off the ice. This also demonstrates Newton's first law since he continues moving in a uniform motion after being impacted by a force. Because the friction can be neglected since it is so low, Nate slides at a constant speed and remains at the same speed (from where he squats) until he hits the wall, demonstrating Newton's first law of motion.

          Newton's second law of motion states that a "force is equal to change in momentum per change in time. For a constant mass, force equals mass times acceleration." Nate also demonstrates Newton's second law of motion when he pushes off the ice with a force and accelerates proportional to his mass.

          The video of Nate hitting the boards also demonstrates Newton's third law of motion: that "for every action, there is an equal and opposite re-action." Once Nate hits the wall, the wall exerts an equal but opposite force on him, causing him to stop, the opposite re-action.

Kinematics

Nate glides a distance of 2.5 meters on the ice in 2 seconds at a constant velocity.

His final velocity, therefore, can be determined by dividing his distance glided by the time. In this case, he traveled 2.5 meters in 2 seconds.
Vf = d/t1
Vf = 2.5/2
Vf = 1.25 m/s
So, Nate crashes into the boards with a final velocity of 1.25 m/s. 

With the final velocity, we can now find the acceleration. The final velocity is 1.25 m/s, and the time it takes for Nate to reach this final velocity of 1.25 m/s is 2 seconds, so we can use a kinematics equation to determine the acceleration.
Vf = Vi + at2
1.25 = 0 + 2a
a= 0.625 m/s^2
Therefore, Nate had a net acceleration of approximately 0.625 m/s^2.

Special Thanks to Special People

Ice skating is always a blast with friends, so I'd like to thank these people for coming out and crashing into walls for me. Special thanks to Nate Thimas, Julia Pimentel, Ryan Clary, Mansi Patel, Alyssa Pappas, and Courtney Marcos for making this happen!

Photo Creds: Nate Thimas

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Sources
https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/newton.html