• Question: Why Ice Is Slippery?

    Asked by danniella1588 to Colm, Eoin, Joseph, Lauren, Stephen on 17 Nov 2013.
    • Photo: Joseph Roche

      Joseph Roche answered on 17 Nov 2013:

      When you walk on ice the friction might cause a very thin layer of ice to melt, and then you can slide on that layer of liquid over the ice until you fall on your bottom. This is the most likely reason, but it has not been convincingly proven yet.

      In any case, when there is ice – be careful. Don’t be this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZvCK2o6Zbo

    • Photo: Lauren Mc Keown

      Lauren Mc Keown answered on 22 Nov 2013:

      There is no friction between your feet and the thin film of liquid melted ice, so your feet can’t grip to it! We can walk on the cold hard concrete ground because there is friction between it and our feet. I can’t get into it on my phone but I’m guessing that YouTube link is the Man slipping on RTE news…never gets old 😀

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