What’s the difference between ice and snow? Aren’t they both frozen water?
In: 732
So while they’re both made of frozen water, snow is a crystal structure with regular shapes whereas ice forms as sheets of solid chunks.
So while they’re both made of frozen water, snow is a crystal structure with regular shapes whereas ice forms as sheets of solid chunks.
They are both ice, but we distinguish snow from ice because ice tends to be hard, contiguous sheets, but snow tends to be individual ice crystals that pile up to make a softer, fluffier mass.
They are both ice, but we distinguish snow from ice because ice tends to be hard, contiguous sheets, but snow tends to be individual ice crystals that pile up to make a softer, fluffier mass.
Ice crystal formed by individual water molecules that are suspended in a gas or fluid coming in contact with and freezing to a super structure make snowflakes (larger).
Ice formed from a bunch of liquid water molecules pooled together, not aerosolized or evaporated or dissolved into a gas or fluid, makes ice.
Basically it’s density before and after.
Snow is made up of lots of tiny low density ice crystals called snowflakes. These are formed in the atmosphere by cooling down air to under the dew point at freezing temperatures. Ice is single large compact crystals. These crystals are usually formed by cooling down water to bellow freezing. So the big difference is basically the size and density of the crystals.
It is possible to make ice from snow. Obviously if you melt it and then freeze it, but you can also compress the snow so that the crystals start binding to each other from the pressure. This means that if you get a lot of snowfall then the bottom snow might turn to ice, this often happens in glaciers. Or if you drive vehicles over the snow it can turn to ice over time.
Snow is made up of lots of tiny low density ice crystals called snowflakes. These are formed in the atmosphere by cooling down air to under the dew point at freezing temperatures. Ice is single large compact crystals. These crystals are usually formed by cooling down water to bellow freezing. So the big difference is basically the size and density of the crystals.
It is possible to make ice from snow. Obviously if you melt it and then freeze it, but you can also compress the snow so that the crystals start binding to each other from the pressure. This means that if you get a lot of snowfall then the bottom snow might turn to ice, this often happens in glaciers. Or if you drive vehicles over the snow it can turn to ice over time.
The main difference is that one is “fluffy” and the other is not. Snow contains a lot of finely distributed air inside. So there are a lot of small hollow chambers between (often needle like) tiny ice crystals.This is the reason for all its properties, i.e. snow:
– acts like a sponge for water; after some time the snow melts or the water freezes into the chambers.
– can be compressed, pushing some air out.
– is thus in general much softer, and lighter, than ice.
– insulates reasonably against heat loss, igloos can keep you alive quite well; like Styrofoam, but with frozen water instead of plastics.
– is white, as light is reflected and refracted around thousands of times whenever it enters/leaves a little chamber; the light therefore is not absorbed, hence no color or darkening, but also does not just pass straight through like with glass or pure ice.
And it can still keep its shape because all the icy branched needles (think of snowflakes, or 1/6th of them) are spiky enough to hook into each other, giving stability.
The main difference is that one is “fluffy” and the other is not. Snow contains a lot of finely distributed air inside. So there are a lot of small hollow chambers between (often needle like) tiny ice crystals.This is the reason for all its properties, i.e. snow:
– acts like a sponge for water; after some time the snow melts or the water freezes into the chambers.
– can be compressed, pushing some air out.
– is thus in general much softer, and lighter, than ice.
– insulates reasonably against heat loss, igloos can keep you alive quite well; like Styrofoam, but with frozen water instead of plastics.
– is white, as light is reflected and refracted around thousands of times whenever it enters/leaves a little chamber; the light therefore is not absorbed, hence no color or darkening, but also does not just pass straight through like with glass or pure ice.
And it can still keep its shape because all the icy branched needles (think of snowflakes, or 1/6th of them) are spiky enough to hook into each other, giving stability.
Have you ever gotten a bowl of ice cream, let it melt (on accident or on purpose), and then tried to freeze it again? Instead of turning back into ice cream, it freezes into a hard block.
This is because when ice cream is made it is constantly being stirred, letting air be captured in the freezing cream and forcing smaller crystals to form. These two things don’t happen to a bowl of cream that is just set in the freezer, so the bowl freezes without any extra air and into fewer, larger, stronger crystals.
Snow is like ice cream; while it was freezing, it was being stirred by the moving air in a cloud. There’s air captured inside it, and the ice crystals are smaller, weaker, softer, and more numerous. Sure, it’s still ice crystals, but the shape of those crystals are different enough to change so much about it.
Meanwhile, “ice” is usually the larger crystals without air inside of them. So they have all the properties of ice, but none of captured air or small crystals.
(you could also compare sand to sandstone; smaller things of a big thing have different material properties)
Latest Answers