why is ice slippery?
 

"Jack Harrison" wrote in message
.. .

"JPG" wrote
Nearly everyone has experienced
the strange effect when touching the coils of your home freezer and your
fingers
sticking to it. I had a similar experience in Canada when at -20 C I got
my
hand stuck to the car door handle.

I had a parallel problem at Gatwick one night. The car door lock was iced
up and as I tried to turn the key, the torque was sufficient to twist me
instead of the key. The ground was very slippery, my feet went from under
me and I landed quite gently on my bum. Mind you, half an hour earlier,
I had put 20 tonnes of aircraft smoothly (?!) onto the runway, so I was in
good practice at doing gentle touchdowns:-)

Jack
Lol. thanks for the lovely picture :)

why is ice slippery?
 

mjones wrote:
sticking to it. I had a similar experience in Canada when at -20 C I got my
hand stuck to the car door handle.
Ouch. :(
How did you get it off - simply pull hard (so losing some skin) and
get someone to douse it with water?

An urban legen horror story told in cold countries:
Group of boys are at railway tracks in winter.
The others tell the youngest to lick rail.
His tongue sticks.
Rain approaches.
All they can do is p** him loose.

why is ice slippery?
 

SteveS wrote:

"bob watkinson" wrote in message
...
Why is ice slippery? When other substances such as metal or candlewax
reach a temperature that solidifies them they are not slippery so why
water?

Interesting question. Google found me the following:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/hockey/ice2.html


"These new findings challenge long-held theories about why ice is slippery.
In the past, scientists believed that either pressure or friction melted
the ice, creating a water lubricant that allows skates and pucks to slide."

The above statement makes me wonder what is meant by "new", "in the past"
and, possibly, "scientists".

A book on ice published over forty years ago quashed the idea that
slipperiness was due to surface lubrication resulting from
pressure-melting. It explained that the surface slippery layer was due to
peculiar characteristics of the molecular structure of ice at the surface.

Yet another "new" discovery that is no such thing.

Graham

why is ice slippery?
 

"Elena Saltikoff" schreef in bericht
...
mjones wrote:
sticking to it. I had a similar experience in Canada when at -20 C I
got my
hand stuck to the car door handle.
Ouch. :( How did you get it off - simply pull hard (so losing some
skin) and
get someone to douse it with water?

An urban legen horror story told in cold countries:
Group of boys are at railway tracks in winter.
The others tell the youngest to lick rail.
His tongue sticks.
Rain approaches.
All they can do is p** him loose.


Something similar:
Told for real in a Dutch paper, many years ago