Enginerring in Half-Pipe

Hey yall, since its almost the end of the Sochi WInter Olympics, I found it appropriate to do this math blog on one of the events. My favorite event is the snowboard half-pipe, which involves performing several airborne tricks on a litteral snow half-pipe. However, in order for one to perform such daring tricks, the half-pipe also must be designed in a certain way. One factor for a snowboard is acceleration. This is defined as the rate of change in velocity. Therefore, if one wanted to gain more height on the halfpipe, that individual would have to increase his acceleration, since it gives a greater force on the body. Gravity also contributes to the performance. The walls of a half pipe are 22 feet and the width is approximately 65 feet wide. This fits a greater radius with the pipe, and thus greater room for speed.
works cited
http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/winterolympics/halfpipe.jsp