Now, you can’t really have failed to notice that the Winter Olympics are currently taking place in Vancouver. Yes, the television is awash with downhill skiing, cross country skiing, slalom, figure skating, speed skating, curling, wheelchair curling, ice hockey, bobsleigh, luge and even skeleton (yes, that is actually an Olympic sport, and not just the bone structure that holds your body together!)
Now all of these sports are very impressive, but have you given any thought to the preparation that goes into the surfaces that they skate on? And also, the involvement of the humble fire extinguisher? No. I thought not…
Well, @NicolaJCook – who is one of our eagle-eyed followers on Twitter – directed us to look into the whole thing. So, as instructed, we have done, and I am now passing on my new-found knowledge to you!
Take figure skating for example. The ice that they skate on is relatively thick – between 4.5 and 5cm, and fairly soft. The temperature is about -3oC, and as the ice is fairly soft, it helps the skaters to be able to dig in to it for jumps and spins. Now usually the same ice rink will be used for figure skating as for an event such as short track skating. The ice, however, needs to be completely different. So, after a figure skating event, the ice has to be shaved down and then built up again afterwards using an ice resurfacer.
During maintenance the ice resurfacing machine floods the ice with hot water, and shaves the surface of the ice with a blade that is over two metres long. For figure skating, ice patchers have to skate onto the rink and fill in holes on the ice before it is resurfaced.
And to the extinguisher part of things. Well, if emergency repairs need to be made, they use water and a fire extinguisher! Water and slush or snow is packed into any large ruts or grooves in the ice, it gets smoothed over with a trowel, and then it is sprayed using the pressurised carbon dioxide fire extinguisher canister to instantly freeze the repaired ice. Clever, right?
Now, ice repairs are not the usual use for a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher. In the usual run of things, you would use one of these little bad boys to put out fires that involve electrical equipment, and can also be used on flammable liquid fires. But, it is good to see that these life-saving pieces of equipment can also be used to win gold medals! From humble beginnings…
