How can figure skaters stand on each other without getting cut?
Watching people gliding across the ice on sharp blades is one thing, but how is it that a figure skater can stand on her partner? Science offers us an explanation.
Canadian ice dance team Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir thrilled viewers with both of their routines at the 2018 Winter Olympics. One of their signature moves, known as the “Goose lift,” defies logic as Virtue steps onto Moir’s thighs – in her skates, while they are skating, mind you – and somehow doesn’t cut his legs off in the process. If you’ve been wondering how that’s possible (I know I have) thankfully the good folks at Inverse Science have the explanation, complete with the explanatory physics.
The easiest explanation why Scott Moir still has legs after the Goose life that the blade of the skates isn’t made up of one sharp edge. Unlike the blade of a knife, figure skate blades are shaped like a half circle (Inverse suggests thinking of the letter C), so there’s a gap between the edges where ice and water pass through.
Having two edges redistributes the surface area of the blade, which means that a skater can stand on a partner’s leg and not have one single edge pressing down (which would be very bad). The weight is distributed evenly, which makes standing on a skating partner possible. (Note, however, that “possible” should not be confused with “comfortable” because this is still an intense pressure being exerted upon a sensitive area of the human body)
While the blade of the skate isn’t a sharp point like a knife, there is still a huge danger present because the edges are still razor sharp. That means that standing might be okay, but if the skate slipped there is a risk of cutting through anything, including fabric and skin. Looking at that Goose lift from Team Canada through that lens makes you realize that one slip and Virtue’s skate could slice through Moir’s femoral artery faster than Meredith Grey’s scalpel. Remaining perfectly still, then, is critical.
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The inherent danger present in the Goose lift is why it isn’t done in competition very often, and it’s one of the big reasons that Virtue and Moir are so dynamic in the ice dance world. And thanks to science, we now know why Moir still has his legs.