Along with a rider's skills STEM principles help make thrilling snowboarding runs possible
5 CHAPTER 1 STEM ON THE SLOPES The snowboarders glide down the snowy mountain As they carve new paths in the powder they are actually sliding over a thin film of water The friction of their boards melts the snow creating this water The boards have been skillfully engineered to withstand stresses and cold temperatures The snowboarders shift their positions as they ride Maintaining their balance takes practice and skill They make tiny adjustments to keep their center of gravity over the board The snowboarders reach a
6 jump and one after another they go airborne As soon as they leave the ramp gravity begins pulling them back to Earth While spinning in the air they travel in a smooth arc back down to the slope A tiny camera strapped to one of the snowboarders helmets captures all the action Snowboarding can be fun and exciting Some snowboarders zoom down mountainsides slicing through the snow Others catch huge air on jumps pulling off impressive tricks Underlying all of these thrills are principles of STEM science technology engineering and math FROM SNURFING TO SNOWBOARDING An engineer named Sherman Poppen invented snowboarding in the 1960s His first snowboard was just two skis fastened together There was a rope on one end to help the rider steer Poppen's wife Nancy called this first board a snurfer because it seemed like a mixture of snow and surfing Poppen is known
7 Snowboarding became more widespread and popular in the 1980s as the grandfather of snowboarding The sport gained popularity over the next few decades In 1998 snowboarding was an Olympic sport for the first time People who want to snowboard need to have the right gear At the top of the list are the three Bs the
