In Winter, when the days are short and it’s cold and miserable outside, all you want to do is park your bottom on the sofa!

But did you know that by staying indoors you’re missing a whole season of fun sporting activities?

It can be really cold in winter, so why is sport still popular?

The main reason is the weather conditions – snow and ice are vital for sports such as ice-skating and skiing.

Ice causes very little friction. Friction is the force that slows things down when they move across one another. Without friction, everything that started moving would never stop!

With hardly any friction from the ice, bobsleighs can reach speeds of up to 145 kilometres per hour. What an exciting sport! It wouldn’t be as fast or exciting if the sport was performed on grass.

In general, smoother materials cause less friction and rougher materials, like grass, produce more friction.

Even the air causes friction.

When you run, millions of tiny air particles hit your face and body. This causes a type of friction called air resistance. It can make sports harder to do and it can slow you down.

The suits that skiers wear are made of smooth material and cling tightly to the skier’s body. This helps cut down on air resistance.

Another way of reducing air resistance is to make equipment, like helmets, skis, and bobsleighs, aerodynamic. This means they are a special shape and are able to move faster through the force of the air.

They are also made from light materials which help to cut down on friction too.

If a ski is made from a heavy material, it will weigh down on the snow and cause more friction.

Friction sounds like a bit of a pain, but it can also be useful.

For example, snowboarders use friction to control their snowboards. They use their body to transfer their weight from one side of the board to the other causing more friction in order to turn, slow down or stop.