Sorry, What – We Only Just Found Out Why Ice Is Slippery

During the UK’s recent snowy and icy spell, you might have tried salting your driveway to prevent, or “melt”, ice.That likely works because of an ongoing battle between water and ice on the top layer of a slippery sheet. Sodium’s structure means its ions break apart in water, making it harder for H2O molecules to stick together – thus lowering the melting point of ice.Until recently, most scientists thought that a thin layer of water on ice was to blame for its slipperiness, too. The idea was that pressure or friction applied to ice led its top layer to melt, leaving a slick film of liquid.But recent research, published in Physical Review Letters, has blown that theory apart. Why is ice really slippery? The water theory might not explain why ice stays slippery in temperatures well below freezing, The Conversation previously noted.Scientists at Saarland University in Germany wanted to explore why that might be. So, they ran molecular simulations of ice interfaces through advanced computer systems to see if they could work out what was really going on. In a press statement, study author Professor Martin Müser said: “It turns out that neither pressure nor friction plays a particularly significant part in forming the thin liquid layer on ice”. Their research suggested that instead, something happens to the strict molecular structure needed to keep ice solid when we step on it, thanks to molecular dipoles. What are molecular dipoles, and why might they make ice slippery?Molecular dipoles happen, Saarland University explained, when “a molecule has regions of partial positive and partial negative charge, giving the molecule an overall polarity that points in a specific direction”. Ice relies on a very neat and exact crystalline formation of molecules in order to stay solid. But when we, for instance, step on ice, the direction of the dipoles in our shoe sole interacts with those in the ice, this study suggested. That means the previously-perfect structure of ice crystals falls apart. “In three dimensions, these dipole-dipole interactions become ‘frustrated,’” Professor Müser explained.This, Saarland University said, refers to “a concept in physics where competing forces prevent a system from achieving a fully ordered stable configuration”.What does this mean? Well, for one thing, it could mean that skiing at very cold temperatures is more possible than we previously thought. “Until now, it was assumed that skiing below -40°C is impossible because it’s simply too cold for a thin lubricating liquid film to form beneath the skis. That too, it turns out, is incorrect,’ said Professor Müser.“Dipole interactions persist at extremely low temperatures. Remarkably, a liquid film still forms at the interface between ice and ski – even near absolute zero,” he added, though at this temperature the liquid may be too viscous to actually facilitate much movement. Saarland University noted that the implications of this discovery are yet to be fully seen, though the “scientific community is taking notice”. Related...Yellow Snow And Ice Warnings: Risks And Next Steps, ExplainedPredicting Snow In The UK Is Hard Because Apparently, It's Not Cold And Wet EnoughCan Dogs Walk In Snow? This Is How To Keep Them Safe

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