Was playing Don’t Break the Ice today and I was wondering if someone could explain the science concept behind what holds the ice pieces together. Preferably a little deeper than just “pressure of pieces in a small space.” I looked online but it didn’t help me out very much lol.
Eta this is literally to explain it to a 5 year old
In: 446
Look carefully at the edges of the tray. You will see plastic flaps that stick slightly outwards. Despite how they look and being made of plastic, these are actually springs.
Now, when a spring is stretched or compressed, it tries to return to the original resting position. Doing so exerts a force. If you line all the ice blocks up and measure them, you will note that they are slightly longer than the hole formed by the plastic springs. So when you put the ice blocks into the tray, it compresses the springs outwards. The springs try to push back in, squeezing the blocks just like your fingers do when you pick something up.
As a result, as long as a line of blocks is unbroken, the only ice cube that falls is the one that is tapped outwards.
I work in plastics manufacturing so I might be able to help here, all plastic parts have what is called draft designed into the parts, to allow them to be ejected from the mold they are molded in. Draft is a slight angle to the walls of a part, for example a cube with draft would have tapered sides (approx 1deg per side or so). If the walls were straight it would scrape and slide as it is pushed out of the mold, with draft the part pops right out. All of the ice cubes in the game are slightly bigger on the top than on the bottom, this difference in size stacks up across the number of cubes in the board. The border of the board is designed to fit all the cubes, but with the extra size due to the draft they have to squeeze into a smaller space than they take up. This tension holds the cubes in place, but when one is removed there is now plenty of room to allow the cubes to fall. Hopefully this answers your question
It’s all about forces and friction. “Pressure of pieces in a small space” is basically right, but the concept of friction helps complete the picture for the blocks themselves.
Friction is basically what resists two surfaces moving against each other while in contact. The strength of that force is based (simplified) on how rough the surfaces are, and how much force is pushing those surfaces together.
Put two of the blocks side by side and touch their surfaces lightly together like they’re in the game board. Try to rub them together or slide them past each other – relatively easy, right? Do it again, but push them together harder; you’ll find it more difficult.
The pieces in that game all exert forces on each other which make the force of friction between them greater than the force of gravity pulling the pieces downwards. This is visually noticeable in the rows and columns of blocks that supply lines of force parallel to the floor, which helps friction stop any given block from sliding out of contact with its neighbour (and vice versa). The force that pushes on the outermost blocks and translates through is from the frame. That is from some kind of compression much like you provide with your hands earlier. This may be by the materials being compressible – squeezing the blocks into a frame that is slightly too small to fit them all, or some kind of spring that applies that force around the edge to the blocks.
When you use the mallet to knock a block away, think of it like applying a force that *helps* gravity, and exceeds the force that friction applies *opposing gravity* and opposing the mallet’s force. The blocks stay in place as long as Gravity + the Force applied by the mallet do not exceed the force of friction between the blocks.
You can do a quick demo with almost any rectangular objects – wood blocks, tissue boxes, or even the blocks from the game.
Put 4 blocks in a row on a flat surface. Hold only the two end blocks and try to pick up all 4 blocks. You will find that if you push together on the 2 end blocks, squeezing the 2 in the middle, you can lift all 4 blocks. If you release the pressure on the end blocks, the middle blocks will fall.
Friction is holding the middle blocks in place. With less squeezing force, the friction force goes down and is not enough to hold the weight of the middle blocks.
Eli5 version:
The big edges are hugging all the things really tightly, and when you hug things together like that, they like to stick to each other because they are also hugging.
When some pieces aren’t getting enough hugs from the other pieces around them, they fall down.
Can someone explain what the game is..?
The edges of the board have plastic springs. Putting the ice cubes in requires some squeezing as it’s a tight fit. This squeezing happens because in order for all the cubes to fit, the plastic springs on the sides, those plastic flaps, need to be pushed outwards. But since they’re springs they want to return to their normal position so they exert a force on the ice cubes. When the board is full of ice cubes this force is transmitted evenly from one side of the board to the other. The cubes stay together because they’re pushed together and there’s a certain amount of friction between them. A good example is how you might pick up something like a box by putting your hands to the sides and squeezing. You’re not supporting the weight mechanically from below but the box is lifted because the friction between your hands and the box is enough to keep it between your hands instead of slipping down.
As pieces are removed this makes the force of the springs uneven across the surface, since not all pieces are in contact with the edges. It also means that if a piece is not being squeezed adequately, it will fall out. Remove enough pieces, and this can create a chain reaction, where with each piece falling out another that was in contact with it also becomes unstable and also falls out.
Plastic deformation. Some plastics (almost all) have a point where it can bend or deform, and still return to it’s original shape. If you bend it, the work you performed can be stored in the plastic until released. When you place the ice blocks in, it deforms the plastic flaps around the frame, they push back with an equal and opposite force, and that holds the pieces in place. When a gap is made, the plastic pushes back to it’s original shape, and the pieces fall.
There are other things, like the fact they’re tapered and not square and the blocks are technically bigger than the hole in the frame.
Thanks everyone for taking the time to explain
>pressure of pieces in a small space
Something called: Friction.
Some stuff has more, some stuff has less, works against any force, so gravity would be one force and movement other force.
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