T 3 Why is snow slippery?

So that you will understand why you wax and why you tune skis, it is best to know some "background" information.

Have you ever asked yourself, "why is ice so slippery"?

Think about it!
Often the simplest questions have profound answers!

No it is NOt because there is great pressure on ice which melts it causing water! That is a myth.

The real and correct answer was found very recently by Colbeck in 1997 in a vital study that clearly indicated that it is FRICTIONAL HEAT. Yes the very heat you get when you rub your open palms together!

It gets even more interesting as physicians discovered in the late 90's a mysterious layer in snow and ice called " Quasi-fluid" layer. As you all know from high school chemistry and physics( and you thought those classes were boring) water has several states ( liquid, gas, solid and now this mysterious quasi-layer).

It is this layer that is the basis of our pleasure.

Since we are in a tuning class we will not get into the "chemical mysteries" of this layer, but let us just say that indeed it is mysterious in the ways it is influenced by; temperature, humidity, pressure,light and physical aspects of terrain.

As future tuners you must always keep in mind that water can in a same location ( ski run) exist as; liquid, solid and gas! In practical terms that means in a given mountain a skier might ski over a QFL ( quasi-fluid layer) of many many types thus affecting ski performance.

What is even more fascinating is that this QFL has very special properties which make skiers very happy! Imagine a tiny oxygen atom at the SURFACE of this layer vibrates faster than the same oxygen molecule in the inside of this layer!

This was discovered by Gabor Snomorjai from University of California! This information is not that important and will not by on final test but maybe one day while you are going up lift and some ski instructor tries to impress you about his /her knowledge of skiing you could ask, who is Gabor Snomorja!

What is important is that these "excited" oxygen atoms at the surface ( some people call them adolescent atoms) is that they "create" vibrations that make snow and ice BEHAVE LIKE A LIQUID! ( even when it is very cold)!

This layer is very thin and very much influenced by outside influence very much like adolescents, thus is unstable! ( no comment here)! That is what makes us happy as skiers!

As you tune remember that in essence you are trying to get ski bases to "float" over this QFL and this layer is very variable. This variability we will discuss later when we talk about wax selection!

What is even more interesting ,,,is this discover has changed dramatically the focus of research on "how to make skis go faster"!
If you do not mind I will give you a glimpse of the future in skiing by telling you that companies are now designing skis with "electronic" bases that try to excite even more those unrulely oxygen atoms even more!

Soon the Ipod will also be used to vibrate ski bases at a certain frequency so that more oxygen atoms will vibrate!

But that is for my class in 2020!

Back to 2006!

Once you understand the basis of the "slippery" surface and how thin it is, you will understand why certain parameters are taken into account in determining wax type and base structure!

We are recreational skiers so we will not in this class focus into minute factors ( in order to get .001 seconds off) but we will consider major factors which are; temperature ( air) and snow type.

On next session we will discuss snow types and how it affects skiing!

How was this session?

Not too much theory?

Can you see those young adolescent oxygen atoms vibrating!