Cutting Through Ice

Place an ice cube on the cork of a bottle. Fix two objects of equal weight on a piece of wire, hang the wire over the ice and place the whole lot out of doors in frosty weather. After a certain time the wire will have cut through the ice without dividing it.

This trick of nature is explained by the fact that ice melts when it is subjected to pressure. Water is formed where the wire is resting, while it immediately freezes again above it. Skating is only made possible by slight melting of the ice under the moving surface, which reduces the friction.