eli5 how ice is slippery. Is it being a solid with a little bit of water on it?
In: 0
Yes, it has an extremely thin layer of around 1 nanometer of liquid water.
The thickness of liquid water is a property of ice at this temperature and pressure (though the pressure effect is tiny), so it doesn’t change as you move on it. You can deform the ice by moving this water, but you can’t change the thickness significantly (it will change a little as you generate heat through friction and change the temperature, and also change by an extremely low amount due to changes of pressure).
Also, this layer of water exists down to a temperature of -100°C and doesn’t need pressure or friction to be generated. It is generated because at any given temperature, there are always some molecules that have more energy than others. The ones with the highest energy are mobile and therefore liquid. It increases in size as you get closer to 0°C. Though it’s the most slippery at -7°C because at high temperatures the ice becomes soft and energy is lost by the ice getting deformed under your weight.
https://www-vox-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/science-and-health/2018/2/13/16973886/why-is-ice-slippery?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16763254515886&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Fscience-and-health%2F2018%2F2%2F13%2F16973886%2Fwhy-is-ice-slippery
https://www.zmescience.com/science/ice-slippery-h-bonds-8731058/
Yes, it has an extremely thin layer of around 1 nanometer of liquid water.
The thickness of liquid water is a property of ice at this temperature and pressure (though the pressure effect is tiny), so it doesn’t change as you move on it. You can deform the ice by moving this water, but you can’t change the thickness significantly (it will change a little as you generate heat through friction and change the temperature, and also change by an extremely low amount due to changes of pressure).
Also, this layer of water exists down to a temperature of -100°C and doesn’t need pressure or friction to be generated. It is generated because at any given temperature, there are always some molecules that have more energy than others. The ones with the highest energy are mobile and therefore liquid. It increases in size as you get closer to 0°C. Though it’s the most slippery at -7°C because at high temperatures the ice becomes soft and energy is lost by the ice getting deformed under your weight.
https://www-vox-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/science-and-health/2018/2/13/16973886/why-is-ice-slippery?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16763254515886&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2Fscience-and-health%2F2018%2F2%2F13%2F16973886%2Fwhy-is-ice-slippery
https://www.zmescience.com/science/ice-slippery-h-bonds-8731058/
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