The Chemistry of Ice Skating

Introduction

The reason I chose to do ice skating is because I love ice skating and thought it would be fun to learn the chemistry of ice skating. I also what to figure out how the skate and ice are made. There are 3 different kinds of skates, ice skates, speed skates, and hockey skate. I'm showing the two most important components of ice skating the ice and the ice skate. Ice skating was invented in 1000 B.C. by the Scandinavians. My project has affected my life because I love to ice skate.Composition of ...

antifreeze

Propylene glycol C3H8O2

Ph buffering

Dipotassium phosphate K2HPO,

Potassium bicarbonate KHCO3

Brine water or with antifreeze

H2O

CaCl2

Ice skates

They have for the outside of the skate

    • Aluminum Al
    • Stainless steel
      • Iron
      • Carbon
      • Chromium
      • Nickel
      • niobium
      • Titanium

Molybdenum

Kangaroo leather

Water H2O

Salt NaCl

Sodium sulfide Na2S

Chalk (Ca(OH) 2)

Sulfate oil

Sulfuric acid

Formaldehyde (CH2O)

Cromosal B

Compound SB

Mimosa

Plastic C2H4

For the inside of the skate they have

Nylon and felt of some sort to make it soft in the in side

Concrete

Ca3SiO5 + H2O → (CaO)·(SiO2)·(H2O)(gel) + Ca(OH)2

Main Chemicals, Compounds, Components

    • Anti-freeze
      • They put the salt or antifreeze in the pipes so then the pipes won't freeze but the temp can get pretty low. Depending on the rink that is when it depends if they use salt or antifreeze. When they use anti freeze they use 60% antifreeze and 40% water. The antifreeze helps the water be close to freezing point but not freeze the water in the pipes or the pipes in general. Antifreeze is made of propylene glycol,Ph buffering,dipotassium phosphate, potassium bicarbonate.
    • Stainless steel
      • Stainless steel is made of multiple elements put together. Stainless steel has iron, carbon, chromium, nickel, niobium, titanium, molybdenum. Stainless steel helps it so it doesn't rust as much as just steel it also makes it more shiny. Then it is made correctly it won't corrode as easy

Chemistry's Role

The chemistry role in the making of skates is the elements that it uses. They use some of the elements by their self but they also use them in compounds. They are man made in a lab for some of the compounds. The stainless steel, plastic, kangaroo leather, chrome, and nylon are all of the elements that are man made for the skate. For the stainless steels it is made with the elements iron, carbon, chromium, nickel, niobium, titanium, and molybdenum. They are all made in to a compound to make the stainless steel. Then for the plastic on the hockey skates they have carbon and hydrogen . Then last there is the Kangaroo leather for the leather they use water, salt. chalk, sulfate oil, sulfuric acid, formaldehyde, chromosal B, compound SB, and mimosa. After they have all of material they are able to put the whole skate together.

For the rink they have a couple of layers before the ice,it goes a chilled concrete slab, insulation, a heated concrete slab, last is gravel and a drain to drain the excess water, they also have pipes running water through all the layers. They use antifreeze in the pipes which has propylene glycol,Ph buffering,dipotassium phosphate, potassium bicarbonate, this is also man made. Or they sometimes will just brine water instead of antifreeze which is just sodium chloride. Also the cement slabs and and other things that make up the actual rink are also man made. For the cement it has tricalcium silicate and water and it makes calcium oxide, silicon dioxide, water and calcium hydroxide.When you put them in the right order and also the right way and enough of each they can make the most useful rink.

Background Research

The first time ice skating was heard of was in 1000 B.C. by the scandinavians. The skates we first made of just leather and metal on the bottom of the leather to make the skate. When filling up a rink depending on the size of the rink. It can take from 12,000-15,000 gallons of water and could take 20 hours to completely fill the entire ice. For the ice to be kept frozen it needs to stay 6-10 degrees. As the time went on some people got interested in out it all works. They wanted to figure out how people are ble skate on the ice with only one blade. They also wanted to now what made the best kind of skate to use and what is the best ice to skate on.

Resources

About the Author

Kaitlyn Church is a junior at from Billings senior High. She enjoys watching movies, writing, reading , music, being with her friends and ice skating.