Quote:
Originally Posted by SwissXC90
yeah i was wrong.
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Not entirely... skates are long and narrow and if correctly sharpened have a concave shape to the blade profile, this gives them directional stability (I.e. will want to keep going straight rather than turn) but allow them to easily slide forwards. The length on the blade and radius of the concave section are varied to give different characteristics I.e. between say figure skating and racing.
Same principle applies, the pressure from the weight of the skater applied to a very small surface area means the ice in contact with the skate immediately melts and hence you slide on a channel of water trapped in the groove on the concave profile. The ice on a rink is so thick you never melt it right through to the floor.