News Physics

Here’s how ice may get so slippery 

Images of atoms on the surface of frozen water hint at how a slick layer forms 

An illustration shows water molecules arranged in hexagons and other shapes surrounded by ice

Frozen water’s slipperiness comes from a liquidlike layer on its surface. Arrangements of water molecules on the surface of ice (illustrated in blue) are helping to explain how that layer forms.

Jiang group/Peking University

By Emily Conover

The surface of ice is a slippery subject.

For more than 160 years, scientists have been debating the quirks of ice’s exterior.