"Skating on Water"

February 7, 1917—Ask the average man or boy, "Why is such glorious freedom of movement possible on ice and nothing else?" and the chances are ten to one that you will get the answer "Because the ice is so smooth."

But is that the reason? Dr. Joly, in a lecture before the Royal Dublin society, pointed out that polished glass is much smoother than roughened ice, whereas on the glass it would be impossible. He proved by interesting experiments that we must seek further for an explanation. His solution, arrived at only after the most careful investigation, is that we owe the ability to skate to the fact that ice melts under pressure.

The part of the skate that bears on the ice presents a very narrow surface, and on this surface come the whole weight of the body. That pressure causes the ice to melt instantaneously, asserts Youth Companion, and the thin film of water between the blade of the skate and the ice serves the same purpose as the film of oil that we run between the working parts of machinery-it greatly reduces the friction. Immediately after the skater passes on the water film solidifies again into ice ready for the next skater, who comes along, says the Brooklyn Eagle. Hence, Dr. Joly concludes that "we really skate, not on ice, but on water!"

Nature gives us in this way lubrication far and away ahead of anything man has been able to make.

Ticonderoga Sentenel 

 

---

 

Aurora Ramsay works in the Brewster Research Library at the Adirondack History Center Museum in Elizabethtown.

ADIRONDACK HISTORY CENTER MUSEUM
ESSEX COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
PO Box 428, 7590 Court Street
Elizabethtown, NY 12932
www.adkhistorycenter.org
Research Queries: research@adkhistorycenter.org
General Information: echs@adkhistorycenter.org