I could very easily teach you to create a Sled using objects found in your home, but I cannot guarantee that these techniques are effective or safe. I would say a snow sled that is reused or made out of home materials is a traditional snow sled in the south. Kayaks are supposed to work well if you do not have sleds, and they work well enough to have an annual Snow Kayak Competition.
Sleds can be made to go faster if their bottoms are waxed. Waxing a sled reduces the friction force exerted on it. at the same time, a sled may move faster if it is heavier because additional weight allows it to cut through the top level of snow more easily and contact the slippery ice beneath.
Picture the traditional sled, and chances are that your brain will conjure up some wooden contraption with runners. The art of the sled just requires something smooth, and watertight, and that decreases the friction, thereby sliding through the snow. Inflatable sleds function the same way but are also made from low-friction materials, making the sled travel over the snow more quickly.
Sleds that have thinner runners, like wooden ones, are far better for sliding, as the weight of your body pushing in a very small area (the runners being down, rather than all of the bottom of a plastic sled) melts some snow, creating a very thin layer of water between the runners and the snow.
Waxing the Sled Raises Its Speed
When that water freezes, you will have a frozen path that should let your sled glide downhill much faster. As your sled goes downhill, it will generate heat, creating a very thin layer of water between your sled and the snow. Rub rubbing wax from candles or regular ski wax onto the bottom of your sled to help it glide faster down the hill. With light twists, the sled slides to one side; turn it more sharply, and it carves; twist as sharply as possible, and the front skis go sideways.
The weight at the front of the sled makes it harder for the back of the sled to get stuck, as the sled rides downhill. When sitting in the sled, gravitational forces pull you towards the hill, while regular forces work the other way. It takes a lot more force to stop you and your friends from sitting on the sled than it does for you to stop a blank sled (one that has less mass). Equal means more force is needed to move the heavier item, which is why it is harder to start a sled with you and a friend sitting on it.
For instance, it takes quite a bit of pushing for both you and your friend to move on a single sled, but once you build up momentum, you keep going, even on the lower part of a hill, when the ride levels off. Direct is the reason why you end up stopping at the bottom of the hill, and the reason some sleds let you go faster than others. To begin sliding down a hill, an external force needs to be applied. Someone needs to push you down, or you need to push yourself down. If anything else (such as the snowbank, or your feet pulling) does not stop you, friction between your sled and the ground stops you.
Best Practices for Sledders
Make sure that you’re on a hill that’s uncrowded, with no obstacles such as trees and rocks. If you are going to try out a sledding session with high speeds, then avoid locations where riders are likely to run into obstacles or slip into roadways. Another technique is to carve out a route through the snow, then sled down the route a few times until it is packed. To begin, sled flat-bottomed down the hill, and then scoot along this path several times to compact the snow.
Now, lay out the trail close to the bottom of the hill, but just uphill of where your sled came to rest. If mom is not watching, practice starting by placing your sled down, backing away from it for a few steps, and running up toward it, launching face-first into it to begin the run. Lying flat will make the sled more aerodynamic, which is why faster, but this position is harder to achieve from the start of the run. If you are sitting down on the sled, you can use your feet to steer, digging the heels into the snow to either side of you.
To steer the plastic sled, you have to either use your feet hanging off of the sides to dig in the snow, or you do not need to bother holding on to your sled line and just use your hands. A thick, fuzzy blanket, for instance, drags more weight down on the underside of the sled, increasing friction and slowing down the speed. You may find you have to carry more than one sled if using a garbage bag, just in case you get holes or tears. If you are on a longer, flatter-bottomed sled, try adding one or two passengers; inner tubes, though, do not hold more than one person securely.
Adding Weight Increases Downward Speeds
Trying might mean stacking multiple people onto a sled, or adding bricks or some other heavy objects to help the sled gain speed. Engineering improvements in the sled design are hard to achieve due to complex aerodynamics, complex sled geometry (or form), and the unstable, turbulent airflow surrounding the sled.
Advanced aerodynamic designs utilize advanced computational and experimental techniques to optimize the geometry of a sled to design a faster, more aerodynamic sled. Working with the 3D printing firm Stratasys, Clarkson University’s professors in engineering were able to design and print the sleds faster, shortening the amount of time needed to test the new designs.
With so many factors that go into the speed of a sled, the only way to truly maximize its potential is by experimenting in a variety of conditions. For those looking to make sleds faster, Michael Edwards, strategic initiatives director for Science East, Fredericton, has a few science-based tips for beating your friends on a downhill run.
Interestingly, in luge, when such conditions exist, heavier sleds travel faster on top of the course, while thinner, more aerodynamic sliders travel faster at the bottom. There is a lot of high-tech stuff now, different types of waxes you can apply; they have dispensers, and that smooths the bottom of the sleeve.