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
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
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