How do air hockey tables work? Well, you may notice that they have many small holes in them. An air hockey puck uses the air that pumps through the small holes on the surface of the table as a lubricant.
It uses the air to lift the puck up slightly to reduce it rubbing on the table creating to much friction. It’s very important that the puck does not touch the surface of the table without air if you are trying to play, because the kinetic energy creates so much friction so you would be lucky if you can get the puck to the other side of the table. But another big problem that many people find is using the right amount of air. If there is to much air in the table the puck would either be way to fast to actually play or it would just fly off the table all together. If you don’t put enough air into the system then the puck would barely move so it’s very important to find a friendly medium. That’s how air goes through an air hockey table and how it relates to how the puck moves. 
This relates to engineering because how the mixture of kinetic energy and friction that created this way to move a puck along a flat surface is engineered to perfection because if it is even a little bit off then it could completely throw off the dynamic of how the table works. Now you know how a puck moves on an air hockey table.
