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During the Winter Olympics, TV commentators said it is advantageous for ski jumpers to be light because they will travel further. But being light is seen as a disadvantage for slopestyle snowboarders. What’s the difference? And what effect do the snowboarders’ baggy clothes have on performance? Would they do better in body-hugging ski suits?

• On a downward slope, a heavier skier or snowboarder will go faster than a lighter one because gravitational energy and kinetic energy are both proportional to mass. But in the air, a ski jumper also enjoys lift. For the lighter ski jumper, this may overcome the disadvantage they experienced on the slope.

Derek Bolton, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

• Lighter ski jumpers do tend to fly further than heavier ones. During the descent to the ramp, a heavier skier has the advantage of air drag holding them back less than it does a lighter skier.

But the lighter skier has an advantage during flight. We are all familiar with the almost-horizontal position skiers assume after launch. They do this because the lift force on a skier travelling through the air has a large upward component. Even the air drag has a slight upward element.

These aerodynamic forces don’t depend on the skier’s mass. But the amount of downward acceleration does. Imagine a rectangular piece of paper and a book with an equal area. Drop them both and the paper will float to the ground well behind the book. Similarly, for comparable cross-sectional areas, the lighter skier’s downwards acceleration will be less than a heavier skier’s. Having a large mass is great for overcoming drag, but having a small mass is great for allowing lift to keep you in the air.

John Eric Goff, Professor of physics, University of Lynchburg, Virginia, US

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