Ice skating

Outdoor ice skating in Austria

Ice skating is moving on ice by use of ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water such as lakes and rivers.

History

'Skating fun' by 17th century Dutch painter Hendrick Avercamp.

The Skater, 1782, a portrait of William Grant by Gilbert Stuart.

Central Park, New York City, Winter: The Skating Pond, 1862.

A study by Federico Formenti of the University of Oxford suggests that the earliest ice skating happened in Southern Finland about 4000 years ago. Originally, skates were merely sharpened, flattened bone strapped to the bottom of the foot. Skaters did not actually skate on the ice, but rather glided on top of it. True skating emerged when a steel blade with sharpened edges was used. Skates now cut into the ice instead of gliding on top of it. Adding edges to ice skates was invented by the Dutch in the 13th or 14th century. These ice skates were made of steel, with sharpened edges on the bottom to aid movement. The construction of modern ice skates has stayed largely the same.

In the Netherlands, ice skating was considered proper for all classes of people to participate in, as shown in many pictures by the Old Masters. James II of England came to the Netherlands in exile, and he fell for the sport. When he went back to England, this "new" sport was introduced to the British aristocracy, and was soon enjoyed by people from all walks of life. It is said that Queen Victoria got to know her future husband, Prince Albert, better through a series of ice skating trips; meanwhile Fenland agricultural workers became masters of speed skating. However, in other places, participation in ice skating was limited to members of the upper classes. Emperor Rudolf II of the Holy Roman Empire enjoyed ice skating so much he had a large ice carnival constructed in his court in order to popularise the sport. King Louis XVI of France brought ice skating to Paris during his reign. Madame de Pompadour, Napoleon I, Napoleon III, and the House of Stuart were, among others, royal and upper class fans of ice skating.

How it works

Ice skating works because the metal blade at the bottom of the skate shoe can glide with very little friction over the surface of the ice. However, slightly leaning the blade over and digging one of its edges into the ice ("rock over and bite") gives skaters the ability to increase friction and control their movement at will. In addition, by choosing to move along curved paths while leaning their bodies radially and flexing their knees, skaters can use gravity to control and increase their momentum. They can also create momentum by pushing the blade against the curved track which it cuts into the ice. Skillfully combining these two actions of leaning and pushing— a technique known as "drawing"— results in what looks like effortless and graceful curvilinear flow across the ice. How the low-friction surface develops is not known exactly, but a large body of knowledge does exist. These are explained below. Experiments show that ice has a minimum kinetic friction at −7°C (19°F), and many indoor skating rinks set their system to a similar temperature. The low amount of friction actually observed has been difficult for physicists to explain, especially at lower temperatures. On the surface of any body of ice at a temperature above about −20°C (−4°F), there is always a thin film of liquid water, ranging in thickness from only a few molecules to thousands of molecules. This is because an abrupt end to the crystalline structure is not the most entropically favorable possibility. The thickness of this liquid layer depends almost entirely on the temperature of the surface of the ice, with higher temperatures giving a thicker layer. However, skating is possible at temperatures much lower than −20°C, at which temperature there is no naturally occurring film of liquid. When the blade of an ice skate passes over the ice, the ice undergoes two kinds of changes in its physical state and a change in temperature due to kinetic friction and the heat of melting.

Dangers

The primary danger in ice skating is falling on the ice. The chance of falling depends on the roughness of the ice, the design of the ice skate, and the skill and experience of the skater. While serious injury is rare, a number of (short track) skaters have been paralysed after a fall when they hit the boarding. An additional danger of falling is injury caused by the skater's own metal blades or those of other skaters. Falling can be fatal if a helmet is not worn to protect against serious head trauma. Accidents are rare but most common with collisions or pairs skating.

The second, and more serious, danger is falling through the ice into the freezing water underneath when skating outdoors on a frozen body of water. This can lead to serious injury or death due to shock, hypothermia or drowning. It is often difficult or impossible for skaters to climb out of the water back onto the ice due to the ice repeatedly breaking, the skater being weighed down by skates and thick winter clothing, or the skater becoming disoriented under water. The skater may even not be able to find the hole he fell through. This may result in drowning or hypothermia, but the rapid cooling can also create a state in which someone can be revived up to hours after having fallen in the water. For safety, one should never skate alone in the darkness and as a rule bring nails or ice-claws when one is skating on a lake or river. They can help a disoriented skater get a grip on the ice when he is in the water. With them, the unfortunate skater can pull himself out of the water.

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  Bandy
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  Figure skating
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  Ice hockey
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  Ringette
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  Short track
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  Tour skating

Communal games on ice

A number of recreational activity games can be played on ice.

• Ice Hockey
• Rousette skating is a recreational event based on ice skating.
• Various tag games with different rules.
• Synchronized skating is a team sport involving four to twenty skaters per team.

Synthetic ice

Synthetic ice uses a hard polymer skating surface that can be set up anywhere in any climate. It does not require water, cold weather, chilling equipment, or maintenance equipment. Major strides in synthetic ice technology have been made in recent years, which have brought synthetic ice surfaces from some manufacturers with skating characteristics that are very close to that of real ice.

See also

• Tour Skating
• Figure Skating
• Fen skating

References

Formenti F. and Minetti A.E. (2007) Human locomotion on ice: the evolution of ice skating energetics through history

Formenti F. and Minetti A.E. (2008) The first humans travelling on ice: an energy saving strategy?ice skating.

External links

• Template:Dmoz
• Scientific Papers
• NHL US Website