February 12, 1999

Of Rotation, Velocity, and the Moment of Inertia: the Physics of Figure Skating

By CAROLYN J. MOONEY

A figure skater makes it look so easy -- the revolutions in midair, the overhead lifts, the strong, clean strokes that are all about speed and grace and the astonishing control needed to maneuver on a steel blade that's only a fraction of an inch thick.

James Richards never paid much attention to skating until the university moved his office -- he's a professor of biomechanics and movement science here at the University of Delaware --