String performance & Ambient Temperature

[ayl]

G'day all,

Recently, I had an odd experience whilst playing. One night at the stadium where I was playing, the heater broke down so we had to play pretty much in near freezing temperatures. My regular racket, the MP77, strung with BG80 around 25lbs, felt like a bat and no matter how hard I hit the shuttle, I could not get any pace or distance in my smashes and clears.

Thinking something was wrong with my racket, I switched to my backup, anther identical MP77, same string with 2lbs less tension, and immediately it felt just right for all shots.

The next day, playing at different place where inside temperature was nice and balmy, the backup racket (the one with less tension) felt like an rubber band whist my regular one felt just right!

So the question is - are the strings really that temperature sensitive? I understand lots of factors contribute to difference in performance (ie-shuttles too stiff and cold or warm and soggy) but I am curious to know if Eskimos play with 15lbs on their rackets whereas Saharans use 30lbs on theirs. ;)

[loganberry]

http://www.prospeed.com.my/String.htm

scroll down to the bottom of the page, the relevant section is "Different weather condition affected string tension" ...obviously ;)

[Woven]

http://www.prospeed.com.my/String.htm

scroll down to the bottom of the page, the relevant section is "Different weather condition affected string tension" ...obviously ;)
hey, from that article i just want to double-check 1 thing. does the tension of strings loose out just when its being used or does it loose out even if its not being used????

[604badder]

Since the heaters were broken, did you consider the difference in air density as a variable in addtion to the strings? The temperature has a strong affect on air density, which in turn has a strong effect on shuttle speed.

I saw this recently in a comment by fellow BF'ers on the speed of the shuttles being used at the World Juniors here in Vancouver. They were using one speed faster than normal for our altitude because the tournament was being held in an ice rink arena. The colder air was more dense and slowing the shuttles down too much if the regular speed for our region was used.

So, could it be that the air was cold enough that the shuttle grade you were using just proved too draggy for the conditions that first night? Were the same shuttles used between the two venues on the different days?

[LazyBuddy]

hey, from that article i just want to double-check 1 thing. does the tension of strings loose out just when its being used or does it loose out even if its not being used????

String will lose tension even if not in usage. For Bg65, the 1st 48-72 hrs, it will lose about 5-10% of the tension, even it just sits there. ;)