# Do heavier skiers move faster? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 12, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-heavier-skiers-move-faster/673749 "2013-11-12T20:04:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-heavier-skiers-move-faster/673749/21 "2013-11-15T15:33:10Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > (Made up numbers) If you have a 5 % increase in frontal area and drag but a 20% increase in mass, the heavier skier will go faster. > > Think of dropping a ping pong ball and a lead weight of the same size and shape off a tall building. I am thinking of that. My name is Galileo. AKA OP. ETA: I am not really OP. ReETA: I am not really Galileo. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-heavier-skiers-move-faster/673749/22 "2013-11-15T18:12:17Z")
Of course, the better skier goes faster. Ignoring skill, though, and assuming that ski friction is proportional to weight, then air resistance versus mass is the main factor. The force of air resistance is proportional to the square of cross-sectional area. For a sphere (people are spherical, aren’t they?) cross sectional area increases as the square of the radius, but volume (and therefore weight) increases as the cube. So, the bigger one has a bigger ratio of mass to cross-sectional area. Hmmm … this means it could go either way. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-heavier-skiers-move-faster/673749/23 "2013-11-15T18:18:51Z")
oops, need to review my math. Brain is slow and have stuff to do. BBL! Er, not just my math. Please ignore ignorance posted above. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-heavier-skiers-move-faster/673749/24 "2013-11-15T19:52:22Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > No, you don’t. 😛 And no, you’re not. 😉 > > Look me up the next time you’re in Tahoe and well test this proclamation. > > Loser buys the beer. I’ve done the experiment, just like Galileo did. I outweigh my wife by about 50 pounds, and on the same hill side by side, same starting conditions, just standing and gliding, I accelerate faster… even if we swap skis. ---
**Author:** ![snailboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/97f17d/32.png) [@snailboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snailboy)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-heavier-skiers-move-faster/673749/25 "2013-11-15T20:29:41Z")
I would think that surface friction would increase more rapidly than mass. A heavier person would sink into the snow more, meaning they would continuously be climbing out of a deeper rut. (Okay, it’s technically not friction that’s increasing but you know what I’m getting at.) It could be that the surface area of the skis is enough that this effect is insignificant, but I would expect at some weight the person would get bogged down and couldn’t move very fast, if at all. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-heavier-skiers-move-faster/673749/26 "2013-11-15T20:41:04Z")
Heaver skiers go faster because they have more potential energy. You can think of it as they worked harder to get their greater mass to the top of the slope, and so have more energy to expend on the trip back down. Or maybe not … ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-heavier-skiers-move-faster/673749/27 "2013-11-15T23:00:20Z")
They have more energy, but they also need more energy. Remember, kinetic energy is proportional to mass, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-heavier-skiers-move-faster/673749.md?page=1)