What is Skeleton Sledding? It's quite a thrilling winter sport. A competitor lies face down on a sled and shoots down an icy bob run at speeds that can reach 93 miles (150 km) per hour. We'll say it again - 93 miles per hour! The sport first appeared at the Olympics in 1928, 1948, and then it returned for good in 2002. The steering, by the way, is aptly done solely through slight movements of the shoulders and knees. Yikes!
Curling is a game played on ice, in which one team member slides a large stone on ice, and then 2 players sweep the ice in front of the stone to guide the stone as it glides to the target. Their goal is to slide the 44-pound (20 kg) stone so that it stops perfectly inside the red circle, called the tee, which is inside a larger blue circle, called the house. The athletes zealously sweep the ice in front of the stone so that it starts melting, slowing the stone as it approaches the tee.
The game is called curling because the path of the stone curves, or curls, as it approaches the tee. There is one physics-related oddity that scientists have yet to figure out about the game: it curls in the wrong direction. Here's the explanation:
Did you know that this sport dates back to the 16th century in Scotland? It was first introduced as an Olympic sport in 1924. It appeared again only in 1988 and 1992 as a demonstration sport, meaning, the games were played not to win a medal but to promote the sport itself.
