The Physics of Shaun White

(Feb. 19) -- After taking his second consecutive gold in the men's halfpipe event at the Winter Olympics, U.S. snowboarder Shaun White is clearly the dominant athlete in his sport, and arguably in all of the Winter Games. So what makes him so great? What underlying abilities allow him to pull off those Double McTwist 1260s?

According to University of Virginia physicist Louis Bloomfield, author of the book "How Everything Works," it's a mix of factors. Ultimately, though, White's soaring performances all come down to raw energy.

1. Takeoff
All the riders start from the same gate, or the same height relative to the pipe. At this point, all their energy is in the form of gravitational potential energy. Once they come out of that gate and begin gliding down, that gravitational potential energy turns into kinetic energy. But this is easy to squander, Bloomfield explains. Some riders skid once or twice on the way, losing energy to friction. "That energy is wasted. It's gone," he says.

White, on the other hand, zips straight down. As a result, he enters the pipe with more energy than most. "If he does nothing else," Bloomfield says, "he will rise higher when he goes off one of the walls."

2. Pumping
Bloomfield guesses that White also adds energy to his ride by pumping his legs. As you watch White before he takes off, it's clear that he bends his knees as he approaches the edge, then straightens them out as he goes airborne. This is the snowboarding equivalent of jumping. Bloomfield explains that this allows White to transform the chemical potential energy stored in his muscles -- effectively, what he ate that day -- into mechanical energy.

3. Rotation
White is relatively short -- fellow American Scott Lago is 4 inches taller, for instance. Height and weight shouldn't factor into his ability to get massive air, according to Bloomfield, but size does matter when it comes to all those flipping McTwists. "If you give the same amount of angular momentum to two people with the same mass, but one of them is short and one is tall, the one who is short is going to rotate faster," he says. "The little guys can twirl faster and more easily."

4. Landing
Even if White enters the pipe with more energy, pumps his legs more efficiently, and completes extra spins thanks to his height, he won't necessarily secure the highest score. He also has to land correctly after each jump in order to soar off the lip for the next one. As with the takeoff, this comes down to friction. Any time a rider skids or lands unevenly, he loses energy. "Whenever you see snow shooting around in the halfpipe or on downhill skiing, you can be 100 percent sure that energy is being wasted. The person is going to be going slower," Bloomfield says. White's landings, on the other hand, are phenomenally clean.

From a physics perspective, White's victory is no accident. He's better at conserving energy off the start, maintaining it in the pipe, transforming it as he jumps and spinning once he's in the air. Though you have to imagine that the hair is good for a few extra style points too.