Bobsled runs -- fast and yet safe
Lightning fast, the sled bolts down the icy run. Will the team make it to the finish faster than their competitors? The tension in the crowd depends partly on the run itself: the faster the sleds can travel on the run, the more thrilling the race. But the track mustn't be too fast: the crew still needs to be able to reach the bottom safely. So engineers have to calculate and simulate exactly how fast a sled can travel on specific sections of the track. The calculations are based on the friction levels between the runners and the ice. Up to now, the problem has been the difficulty of measuring these levels at such high speeds, and the data collected have been rather far from reality. This meant that the speed of the sleds was often estimated too high or too low, which could lead to accidents.