Think Dipoles

by Deb Whitehorse | Sep 6, 2025 | 2026, Home Page

Here is an excellent photo from Poland that I’ve been waiting to use for a while, proving how far the obsession can go: a commercial ice cream freezer repurposed to keep runners cold during sharpening sessions. Brilliant!

It is no secret that DN sailors are obsessive about runners and keeping them sharp. For nearly 200 years, the explanation for why runners slip on ice was simple: pressure and friction melt the surface. But new research from Saarland University in Germany shows the real story. It is molecular dipoles, tiny electrical charges in the runner metal interacting with the ice, that disrupt the crystal structure and create a thin liquid film. If you want a deep scientific dive into why things like runners glide on ice, check out the full article on phys.org.

To get a better understanding of what is going on, it helps to know how ice is structured. Below zero degrees Celsius, water molecules (H₂O) arrange themselves into a highly ordered crystal lattice in which the molecules are all aligned neatly with one another, creating a solid, crystalline structure.

When someone steps onto this orderly structure, it’s not the resulting pressure or friction of the shoe that disrupts the top layer of molecules, but the orientation of the dipoles in the shoe sole interacting with those in the ice. The previously well-ordered structure suddenly becomes disordered.