Why Is Ice Slippery In Nature?

Do you know that what is the reason behind ice being so slippery, answer to this question lies in a film of water which gets generated by friction, one which is far thinner than expected and also much more viscous than the common water through its resemblance to the "snow cones" of the crushed ice. This phenomenon has been recently demonstrated by researchers who are from the CNRS and ENS-PSL, and along with support from the École polytechnique they were succeeded, this was a study that appeared in Physical Review X on November 4, 2019.
The properties of the thin layer of water which get formed had never been measured: its thickness is largely unknown, while its properties, and also its very existence are still discussed upon.
To solve the paradox, researchers from the Laboratoire de physique de l'ENS (CNRS/ENS-PSL /Sorbonne Université/Université de Paris), in support with a team from the Laboratoire d'hydrodynamique (LadHyX,CNRS/École polytechnique), developed such device which equipped with a tuning fork -- similar to those used in music and that can "hear" the forces at work during ice gliding with the remarkable precision. Despite of the instrument's size, which counts few centimetres, it is very sensitive to probe ice and analyse its properties of friction on a nanometric scale.
Thanks to the unique device, the scientists are now able to clearly demonstrate for the first time that friction indeed generates a film of liquid water. Even more it is surprisingly known that the film is not at all "simple water," but consists of water that is as viscous as oil, with complex viscoelastic properties. This behaviour is totally unexpected and suggests that surface ice does not completely transforms into liquid water, but instead it ends up in a mixed state similar to "snow cones” which is a mix of ice water and crushed ice. Thus one can say that the mystery of sliding on ice can be found in the "viscous" nature of the film of water.

By: Prerana Sharma
Content: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191105104416.htm