Figure skating is the softest, warmest ice. Ice hockey needs something a bit harder because they have to be needed that combination of grip and glide. So you can switch between the two. You tend to need to flood. But you can add more water. They literally flood it with water and let it freeze and then add more water andLet it freeze. And they can change the underlying temperature of what's underneath the compressors and stuff underneath. In an ideal world and in a competition, they would absolutely want to change temperatures for between sports.
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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