Ice skating is fun, but a little boring. You really just skate around in a circle, and the tricks you can do are limited by the flat surface.
Using Parabolic Pool Table technology, spin water into the shape of a parabola and freeze. Stop the park from spinning, and the equivalent of a skateboard park is ready for ice skaters.-- Worldgineer, Oct 09 2004 Inspired by http://www.halfbake...0Skateboard_20BasinCentrifugal Skateboard Basin [Worldgineer, Oct 09 2004] Other inspiration http://www.halfbake...olic_20Pool_20TableParabolic Pool Table [Worldgineer, Oct 09 2004] If this keeps up, we just might have to make an entire section called sports:parabolic!I think downhill hockey is cool, though. Maybe in winter...-- croissantz, Oct 09 2004 I would table a parabolic pool (swimming). Holy vertigo, Batman! The water skier in the joke would finally find a sloping lake, but still not get anywhere.-- spidermother, Feb 11 2006 This would have to be a big rink. If the curve was at all measurable over the length of a skate, the skate would dig itself in at each end. You could of course cheat and curve the skate slightly, but this would only work consistently in a hemispherical rink. Of course the zamboni is another matter entirely.-- wagster, Feb 11 2006 Ah, good point. A new patented variable shape blade will need to be developed. Start with, say, 10 blade segments, and hold them in a straight line using springs. Pressure on the ends changes the shape.-- Worldgineer, Feb 11 2006 And a bendy zamboni?-- wagster, Feb 11 2006 Sure, why not.-- Worldgineer, Feb 11 2006 //Stop the park from spinning// Why?
Bun anyway.-- dbmag9, Feb 13 2006 Maybe just different levels in a flat rink would be feasible. Skaters could jump from a low level up to a high level, make a biiiiiiiiig jump off a high level to a low level, etc.-- phundug, Sep 25 2006 After a bit of research, it appears that both ice hockey skates and figure skates have the "flat" part of the blade curved with a radius between 7 feet and 13 feet. This is called the rocker. There are advantages to more or less curve. Since the radius of curvature of the rink will significantly larger than this, I suspect that any skate in that range would be usable, but people who come here often might want to select skates with a slightly smaller rocker radius than they would normally use.-- scad mientist, Jan 09 2019 What [dbmag9] said.-- Voice, Jan 14 2019 ////Stop the park from spinning// Why? //
If you left it spinning at the same rate, it would behave like a flat, stationary rink in most respects. However, skaters would experience a Coriolis force if they travelled radially.
Hey, if you spun it fast enough (before and after freezing) you'd have a rink where you could skate up a near-vertical wall as easily as you could horizontally.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 14 2019 Yeah the same concept is being discussed on two separate ideas right now.
Must be a hit. Now I'm wondering about the chassis needed to support that much spinning ice plus erratic skaters at a constant rpm all winter long.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jan 14 2019 If it doesn't have to be water ice - other "ices" are available, such as methane and ammonia - you could just get a small moon, gouge out a parabolic pit, then spin the thing up to a high rotational speed.
You'd need one with a rocky core, otherwise it might disintegrate as it got up to critical angular velocity.-- 8th of 7, Jan 14 2019 And when it isn't being used by skaters, coat it with something shiny, place a downward pointing light source above it to fashion a death ray searchlight.
At least, that's what we tell the military, since it's their budget.-- DenholmRicshaw, Jan 14 2019 "Ah, Lord Vader. What have you to tell me ?"
"Good news, my master. Your new parabolic ice rink is complete and fully operational."
"Ex-cellent. Everything is proceeding as I have forseen. Now, help me on with these skates ..."
<Wonders if someone will post "Star Wars: A New Hope, On Ice"/>-- 8th of 7, Jan 14 2019 random, halfbakery