BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 8, 2022
The online sled ride calculator created by Davide Borchia, who holds masters and doctoral degrees in physics, incorporates all the factors that go into getting from the top of the hill to the bottom. The idea behind it is equal parts showing the usefulness of physics in everyday life and providing a tool that promotes safety, he said. “When we looked at statistics with sledding we found it can be very dangerous,” Borchia said. “Every year in the United States alone there are tens of thousands of injuries, in particular with children. We decided to create a tool that could help parents and kids see if a hill is safe to sled on.” Last year, Borchia’s colleague Dr. Anna Szczepanek, professor of applied mathematics at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, unveiled a similar online calculator that helps create the perfect snowman.