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robot_egg t1_j9zq5tz wrote

This is a great question, and waaay more complicated than you might think. There's a symposium on ice adhesion at a scientific conference (the Adhesion Society Annual Meeting) that's been going on for years, which hints at just how complex it must be.

Surface texture can give a mechanical bond via a lock and key effect. But there's also some molecular level interactions; the surface of glass has a lot of Si-O-H groups, which hydrogen bond with water readily. Similarly, most metals have what's called a "native oxide" layer on the surface, which has similar M-O-H groups that can do the same thing.

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NoKnee4545 t1_ja0jb9b wrote

Do you think there is also pressure difference between atmosoheric pressure and ice-glass boundary that plays a part in this?

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robot_egg t1_ja0ks2o wrote

I'm not sure how to think about pressure at that ice-glass interface. Not saying "no", but I'm *guessing* not. I'm an organic chemist; maybe a physical chemist or a physicist could chime in.

Surface *energy* effects at interfaces are very important for adhesion. You can calculate a work of adhesion by summing up the relative surface energies of all the solid/solid and solid/gas interfaces. Both glass and metals tend to have rather high surface energy, making them easy to stick to.

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