The Physics of Hockey

Scientists with a keen interest in hockey make for perhaps 0.1% of North America’s population; it would be pointless to cater a book or a website only to them. Do equations scare you? You are not alone. Imagine, we are in physics and sometimes we are also turned off by equations. It’s funny, it might be because equations contain so much information that they demand extra attention. Alain kept this in mind when he wrote The Physics of Hockey and designed this website.

Browsing it you’ll find a number of equations, but the text is written so you get the message anyway. As physics educators, we know we can all understand the essence of physics by means of words. So stick to the texts and you’ll be fine.

What do Wayne Gretzky and thermodynamics have in common? A lot more than you might think. The game the National Hockey League calls “the coolest game on earth” is also a fast-paced, dynamic display of physics in action.

In The Physics of Hockey, physicist and amateur hockey player Alain Haché examines some of the physical principles behind the world’s most popular winter team sport. What makes ice so slippery you can skate on it? How can you skate backwards most rapidly? How can physics improve your slapshot? Why do some collisions cause injuries but not others? How does a Zamboni work? And how do you prepare a pure, smooth ice surface in Dallas when it’s sweltering outside and there are twenty thousand people inside?

Haché investigates the properties of the ice surface, the science of skating and of skates, the odds of winning and losing streaks, and the principles behind shooting, hitting and goaltending. A thought-provoking, fun and accessible introduction to some basic issues in physics, The Physics of Hockey is a unique book that deserves a place on the shelf of every hockey fan and physics enthusiast.