Did the 1080th feat only happen because it was done by a child?

Three full turns in the air before landing with the skate on the track, ie 1080º. This was the most unreachable feat of skateboarding until Tom Schaar, a 12-year-old American, managed to perform the maneuver earlier this year. But did Schaar's being just a boy have any bearing on his achievement?

The folks at Wired asked this same question, and asked physicist Rhett Allain to check out Schaar's evolution.

The almost impossible 1080º

Allain performed various calculations and estimates, taking into account the body proportions of an adult and a child during the evolution of the maneuver. Considering that a child is lighter, we can imagine that someone with a smaller body takes advantage over an adult. However, an adult would have more physical strength to reach the speed necessary to perform the three turns in the air.

However, although an adult has more strength than a child to perform the turns, according to physicist estimates, to perform the 1080º the adult would have to employ a force five times greater than the child, which would not be feasible. After all, the force in this case is influenced by the friction of the skate wheels on the track.

Generally speaking, friction is commensurate with each child's weight - child and adult - and the child still has the advantage of finding less wheel resistance with the track. But Allain also considered many other variables: maybe the adult can stay longer in the air and jump higher, or maybe the child can ride a larger skateboard, gaining even more advantage over the adult, etc.

After all, does the boy take advantage or not?

Allain is not the type to answer like that, with a kiss - you can check the physicist's calculations and estimates in English by visiting this link. But the overall conclusion is that Schaar, being lighter and smaller, takes advantage of an adult skateboarder.

However, as the physicist himself said, “I would classify this question as one of those situations in which the greatest does not mean the same; things don't always scale the way we think they should. ” So, you want to send a 1440º and pass the mark hit by the boy? It can start as little Schaar: a lot of training and focus.