Edit: Thanks for the awards! First time i’ve ever received any at all!
In: Chemistry
I’m an Inuk from Nunavut and I have experience with this! In the colder seasons of winter often between November to April are the peak freezing temperatures, the snow packs harder from winds and cold making snow easier to pack and build into shape, forming a stronger integrity of an igloo (proper name is ᐃᒡᓗᕕᒐᖅ “Igluvigaq” ) with the cold atmosphere keeps the exterior of the Igluvigaq frozen, the interior warms by the flames of stone lamp called ᖁᓪᓕᖅ “qulliq” melts a thin wall making film of ice. The ice is kept frozen by the outside, making the Igluvigaq insulated and keeping the Igluvigaq nice and toasty! Igluvigaq are often used in temporary shelter when going out to hunt and harvest away from family camps.
It is a lot harder to melt ice than most people realize. It’s not just heating ice from 0C to 1C; you have to add enough heat to cause a state change, which doesn’t even change the temperature. You are basically melting 0C ice into 0C water. Which also means that the melted ice doesn’t help you melt more ice.
[Here is a documentary that explains it better than I could.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKBtFUufqL0)
I have a follow up question about this:
How come mountaineers never seem to build igloos (ᐃᒡᓗᕕᒐᖅ as /u/IpodAndMp3 stated) when they get in trouble on a mountain?
For instance, in the 1996 Everest disaster, where 12 people died, not one had tried to shelter in the snow (as far as I know). In addition to that, I have never hear of *any* mountaineer trying to shelter in an igloo to combat exposure – which seems obvious for a number of reasons: snow is abundant and a professional camp stove is very light, compact, and can be used to make water from ice – I would assume that would be an essential thing on the way to the summit.
Now, I realize the Everest disaster has many, many, other factors: HACE, massive storm / wind, well above the death zone, lack of O2, fatigue (especially), etc. I am not trying to suggest I know shit about anything in this regard – it’s the one example I can think of. I am legit curious and as, like I said, I haven’t heard of this type of shelter in any / many exposure incidents.
My best guess is that snow on the tips of mountains are not “sticky” enough for this sort of endeavor?
Anyways, enlighten me.
Conduction vs convection. The convective heat put off by the fire just isn’t enough to overcome the amount of heat that the thick walls of an igloo can absorb through conduction. It would take an immense amount of BTUs to melt the walls of an igloo. Ever seen the video of the guy trying to melt the snow on his driveway with a flamethrower? It didn’t work very well…. It takes only a small amount of convective heat and few BTUs to warm the air inside the igloo. Think about breathing on the palm of your hand. The surface of your hand gets warm for about 3 seconds. But you could never breathe on the palm of your hand enough to make the back of your hand warm. Now imaging the back of your hand is -10 degrees. Your hand is going to be frozen regardless of a little warm air hitting one side of it.
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