Why is wax used to increase friction in surfing, but used to decrease friction in skating?

1.36K views

People put wax on their surfboards to increase the grip they get, yet skateboarders use it to decrease friction on ledges/rails. How can wax be used to both increase and decrease friction?

In: Physics

4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

My uneducated guess would be wax finds the middle ground between the 2 surfaces, wood to concrete or metal would need to be a little more slippery and fiberglass to snow could probably use more friction

You are viewing 1 out of 4 answers, click here to view all answers.