Science

The Science of Shred

How Olympic snowboarders might pull off the elusive quad cork 1800.
  • Photo: Red Bull Media House
    01
    Behold the horrifying quad cork 1800, a snowboarding trick first landed by British Olympian Billy Morgan. End to end, the stunt involves four off-axis flips (or corks) and five full spins. Only five people have ever pulled it off, but expect to see more attempts in Pyeongchang at the Winter Games' first-ever big air event. We enlisted physicist John Eric Goff to break down the forces behind the all the flips.
  • Photo: Red Bull Media House
    02

    LAUNCH

    Olympic boarders will accelerate down 240 feet of slope, 39 degrees at its steepest, before hurtling off the ramp. Speed is key here: Too slow, and they won’t get enough air to complete four flips. Goff estimates Morgan hits approximately 40 mph at takeoff.
  • Photo: Red Bull Media House
    03

    SPIN

    The quad cork’s tricky combination of flip and spin requires a simultaneous trunk twist and ab­dominal crunch. That quick movement likely generates about 50 foot-pounds of torque—1,000 times the torque it takes to turn your head.
  • Photo: Red Bull Media House
    04

    POSTURE

    As his body spirals through the air, Morgan crouches and grabs his board. The smaller he can tuck—minimizing the moment of inertia—the faster he rotates. During the first cork, he throws his left arm out to the side to adjust his rotational direction.
  • Photo: Red Bull Media House
    05

    SPEED

    Morgan pulls both of his arms into his chest like a twirling figure skater to pick up the pace. He needs to spin as quickly as possible to complete all five rotations before touchdown, averaging a whiplash-inducing 1.7 revolutions per second.
  • Photo: Red Bull Media House
    06

    IMPACT

    As he completes the last cork, Morgan throws out his arms and straightens his body to slow the rotation. He hits the ground going approximately 50 mph with about 450 pounds of force on each leg, Goff says, about half the force it takes to fracture a bone.
  • Photo: Red Bull Media House
    07

    STICK IT

    Morgan lands with his board at a 14-degree angle to decelerate gradually. He bends his knees as he touches down, which extends his collision time and distributes the force. All told, he executes the trick in 2.9 seconds of hang time, soaring 133 feet over the snow.
Sophia Chen is a science journalist covering physics, materials science, and computing. Her work has also appeared in Nature and MIT Technology Review, and she writes for the YouTube show Physics Girl. She has a master’s degree in physics from the University of Arizona and is based in Columbus, Ohio. ... Read More
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