How Those Blades Work

Skates are legitimately what makes hockey different from a number of other sports. While figure skaters and speed skaters and ringette players all use skates as well, they're a specialized piece of equipment in sports. And while no one is saying you need to coat the skates in shoe polish like the California Golden Seals did as seen in the image, hockey players do some pretty amazing things on skates: cross-cuts, hard stops, skating backwards, and more! Have you ever thought about how skates actually work and the physics used to put blade on ice?

I wanted a good look at the physics that went into skating and how the blades and ice work together to make that happen, and I turned to YouTube's SmarterEveryDay to get that answer as the Cold Hard Science episode showing "The Physics of Skating on Ice" held the answers I was seeking!

The video is about ten minutes long, so settle in and enjoy! If you want to skip the figure skate physics, fast forward or jump to the 3:12 mark of the video.

Some of you may have rolled your eyes at the amount of figure skate chatter at the beginning of this video, but the physics of how figure skates work on the ice is still pretty interesting. If you've heard players or commentators talking about "working the edges" during a game, you now have a better sense of what they mean! And the speed skater stuff is simply mind-blowing to me. That's one sport I admittedly watch during the Olympics because of how precise those skaters have to be!

Full marks to SmarterEveryDay for this video! Hopefully, you have a better appreciation for how skates work on ice in the three different sports known for skates!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!