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The illustration above shows that artificial ice has a thin layer of water on the surface. It's created by air above the ice being warmer than the artificial ice itself. This thin layer of invisible water is what allows steel skate blades to glide, kind of like a lubricant. Because the ice is so much bigger than the skate blade, the dynamic is more like the ice trying to cool the heated blade than vice versa. The end result of this battle is a slightly thicker layer of water which gives the b...
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