I just saw a person on TikTok that slipped when he stepped on the Bowling lane. I just wanna know why and how are they slipper?
In: Engineering
> I just wanna know why and how are they slipper?
Because they are smooth lacquered wood which has oil applied to it. Most things get slippery when they are all oiled up and a bowling lane is no exception.
In fact the specific patterns of the oil applied to bowling lanes can impact how balls roll on them to the point where skilled players account for both the initial pattern and how it wears over time. As for *why* they are slippery, it is all due to people tossing bowling balls down them. It both decreases wear (you wouldn’t want your lane developing divots from abrasion) and allows the balls to roll, spin, and slide freely to facilitate the game.
I used to be a mechanic in a bowling alley. The lanes typically get oiled up with a specific oil pattern twice a day. The oil pattern changes based on what bowling leagues or events are scheduled for the week, sometimes by request. The oil typically gets stripped off with chemicals twice a week and reoiled. Usually an automatic oiling machine then is put onto a lane and automatically lays down a pattern of oil upon the lanes.
Bowling alleys can be slippery due to the polished wood surface they are typically made of. The surface is treated with oil to protect the wood and provide a smooth lane for the bowling ball to roll on. Over time, this oil can build up on the lanes, making them slippery and affecting the ball’s trajectory. Regular maintenance and cleaning of the lanes are essential to ensure a consistent playing surface for bowlers.
The game changed in nineteen ninety eight when the undertaker threw mankind off hеll in a cell, and plummeted sixteen feet through an announcer’s table.
Bowling lanes have oil applied to them, originally intended to help the wood lane surface last longer. But now it is a part of the game and the oil pattern that is laid down is essentially how the difficulty of the lane is set. The more difficult oil patterns are usually only laid out for the pros or “sport” leagues and most everyone else is on a more forgiving oil pattern.
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Most bowling alley are synthetic and not wood (but some with wood still exist).
Part of the mechanic is to apply an oil on the alley that will let your ball slide and only on the last few inch, the effect you put on the ball will allow it to grip and come back in the middle to strike
Each bowling center have a slightly different owl pattern so you get used to the own where you often play and need to learn in practice when you visit a new place
Also oil distribution is affected by the number of games played and temperature
Some of you might appreciate this story, I used to work at a pretty nice bowling ally back in the very early 2000s. We had a very VERY old oil machine that could not be flashed with new oil paterns because it was all mechanical and had no computer bits to lay its pattern. Well one day boss starts making deals with a pro league ( think it was pba not sure ) and to get the deal he had to purchase new machines with modern oil patterns. He buys them, 270k later, the leage comes to finalize the deal and another part of their stipulation was the bar had to be removed. Boss wouldn’t do it even tho the bar got like 10 customers a day tops. the leauge backed out of the deal, boss couldn’t return the oilers and closed down less then 2 years later.
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