Melting ice races faster than Death Valley rocks on new lab surface

Researchers at Virginia Tech, led by Professor Jonathan Boreyko, have engineered a specially designed aluminum surface that causes melting ice discs to self-propel rapidly across it. The surface features asymmetric, arrowhead-shaped grooves with a herringbone pattern that direct the flow of meltwater, effectively carrying the ice disc forward without external forces like wind. This phenomenon was inspired by the natural mystery of "sailing stones" in Death Valley's Racetrack Playa, where rocks move across flat ground due to ice rafts propelled by wind and melting water. A surprising discovery emerged when the team applied a water-repellent coating to the grooved plates. Instead of facilitating faster movement, the ice disc initially stuck to the surface, creating a "slingshot effect." Meltwater pooling on one side of the ice disc generates a surface tension imbalance that suddenly dislodges and propels the ice at high speed, making it move much faster than the Death Valley rocks. This breakthrough has potential applications in rapid defrost