The brooms that they use now are pretty nylon. They're not abrasive. The job of the sweeper, the people who are sweeping the brooms in front of the curling stone, is actually trying to melt the ice. So do we need to consider these brushes that curl shoes? And didn't we go through a phase where they had something known as the Franken broom? Yes, broomgase. Brungase. I got to have one of those.
What makes ice slippery? Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly uncover the complex physics of ice and cool facts we’re still learning about it with physicist and author, Laurie Winkless.
NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: https://startalkmedia.com/show/slippery-science-the-physics-of-ice/
Photo Credit: Sharon Mollerus, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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