Surfing Waves

Hi, I am new here to ask a question. I hope it's ok!
My daughter is very interested in surfing because of the surf's up movie. We don't know anything about surfing
She is wanting to do a science project on surfing AND surfboards.
She is 9 yrs old, it needs to be simple. Maybe the basics?
Any help will be appreciated.
Thank You !!!

How do you mean? Like how waves are formed or how a surfer rides a wave?

go onto the main page of this site and read up on the lessons and board board dynamics. There is a wealth of information there to get you started. If you then have specific questions im sure one of the lovely people on here will be more than willing to shout some valuable info.

Hey thanks everyone! We've been talking about WHAT she wants everyone to know at the fair, and she chose history of surfing, types of surfboards, types of waves.
I'm not sure if this will be all. THANKS!!

sounds cool, the site has plenty of info too

sisymay wrote: types of surfboards

Here's a start for that bit - types of surfboard




...At this point Im guessing you'll be saying 'flippin' 'eck, there's a lot more to surfboards than I thought!'

this is a neat website about the physics of surfing...

http://blackmagic.com/surf/papers/physicsgrm.html

being nine, most of it is probably too advanced for her, BUT the section about balance she would probably be able to do something with....it is super easy to demonstrate the whole center of gravity thing. just make a small model of a surfboard and balance it on a pin..where the pin goes is where the feet go (or at least close enough as far as elementary school science fair judges are concerned!)

have fun!

Hmmm, the website is wrong, or is at least leaving a large part out - now Im not gonna try and get into why a board planing doesnt sink (because I dont understand why a board planing doesnt sink) but a surfer cant 'stand on water' solely due to the float of his board, unless its a very big board.

A shortboard needs to be planing and needs lift from... er... wherever the lft comes from

i think the biggest science in surfing is how the waves are formed. history of surfing isnt really a science. its a social science since its history... help her research how waves are formed, by storms off coast... thats meteorology right? a physical science?

There was a really good site that showed how waves are formed and had animations that she would understand but I can't find it

a surfer cant 'stand on water' solely due to the float of his board, unless its a very big board.

you are deffinately right about the website leaving a big piece out. the website doesn't discuss how a surfboard planes (what makes your board skim across the top of the water when you ride), but it does discuss how it floats (what keeps you from sinking to the ocean floor while youre waiting for the next set.)

the website probably says nothing about lift because it is a tremendous pain in the @$$ to caluclate. to directly calculate lift you need to know the distribution of pressure and the wall shear stress around the entire body, which are measurements we usually dont have. Sooo..we get lift in terms of a fun little thing called the lift coefficient.
Cl = L/(.5*p*U^2*A)
where L = lift, p = density of fluid, U = velocity of flow, and A = reference area
The lift coefficient is usually found through experiments or some kind of ridiculous numerical analysis.
Anyways, in short (that ship has sailed right?) usually most lift comes from pressure forces, but viscous forces also play a role, lift (like drag) is highly dependent on the shape of the object (think racecar vs. station wagon), and the speed of the flow is also critical (this is why its easier to ride a bigger board in slower waves).

obviously this is an over simplified model, but i hope it at least gives some idea of where lift comes from.

sorry for the long post...apparently i have spent way too much of my life dealing with engineering and fluid mechanics...

Phew! Thats put my mind at rest! I couldnt sleep for worrying about the lift coefficient!

hehe...glad to be of service....i am much better at physics than surfing!

kansasurf wrote:hehe...glad to be of service....i am much better at physics than surfing!

I'm guessing that there's a lot more physics than surf in Kansas...?

Yup, absolutely! If a surfboard isn't planing properly, it's way much harder to move it.

drowningbitbybit wrote:I'm guessing that there's a lot more physics than surf in Kansas...?

so sad and so true..ive only been a couple times...but i will be moving to florida in a couple months, and i am really looking forward to embarassing myself on the weekends

Poor guy..........stuck in Kansas.......

poor girl