If you watched the 2018 Winter Olympics, then you might have noticed the suits that the athletes wore. Have you ever wondered why they look so unique? Besides making the athletes look stylish, the suits can also help them move faster. This is especially true for speed skaters.
Wave your hand around in the air. You might feel some air moving around your hand, but you probably don't think that it can slow your hand down. But if you wave your hand around in some water, you can feel that it is not easy to move your hand. This is called drag (阻力). Air has less drag than water, but it can affect your speed.
Speed skaters wear suits that reduce drag. The suit makes the surface of their body smooth. This way, the air moves more easily over their body and there is less drag.
The US speed skating team's suits were made out of a white nylon-spandex (尼龙氨纶) mix called H1. When we move, we leave a vacuum (真空) hole of air behind us that can slow us down. Speed skaters need to make it as small as possible. The H1 fabric (织物) can help with this. The fabric makes the airflow behind moving objects more steady and therefore makes the hole smaller, Wired magazine reported.
The H1 fabric was used for the arms and legs of the team's suits. That's because human arms and legs move more and feel more drag.
Wearing high-tech suits might not decide the final victor in a competition. But the suits give athletes the best tool to do their job.
