Re: misconception re ice melting under skates

[Leigh Palmer <palmer@sfu.ca>]

> But at the bottom of page 295, Hewitt claims that the thermal
> conductivity of the wire transfers heat energy from the top
> surface of the wire to its bottom surface.  He DOES NOT mention
> any heat transfer to or from the environment outside the ice block.

Good grief! That even agrees with Zemansky's 1965 article, which,
incidentally, cites earlier articles on the topic, one from the
late 19th c. by R. W. Wood, the same fellow who demonstrated that
greenhouses don't work by the greenhouse effect.

The transfer of heat from top to bottom of the wire provides the
latent heat of fusion required to melt the ice below.

Leigh