What’s the difference between ice and snow? Aren’t they both frozen water?
In: 732
They’re both ice, but snow is ice that has formed into tiny specs of flaky crystals with sticking-out-bits. Those sticking-out-bits on snowflakes prevent the ice crystals from fitting together tightly. A pile of snowflakes has lots and lots of air gaps between the snowflakes because the sticky-out-bits get hung up on each other. A layer of snow is about 90 percent air trapped between the sticky-out-bits. That’s why snowstorms can create very deep layers of snow. The amount of water that would make 1 cm of rain makes 10 cm of snow.
More interesting is this – what is the difference between snow and rain? High in the atmosphere it’s always cold (think WW2 bomber pilots wearing thick furry jackets even in summer). The cloud water vapor condenses around dusty particles into a frozen crystal with sticky-out-bits. Then it starts dropping. As it drops it gets into warmer air. If the air further down is warm enough, those ice crystals melt into water drops. If the air further down isn’t warm enough, they stay as ice crystals.
Basically rain *is* snow… that melted on the way down to the ground.
It’s essentially the difference between a board and sawdust. Both are wood… But the board had a lot more connections recording the structure. Snow is just lots of separate pieces.
Snow flakes are ice.
Just small frozen water drops which fall as snow and compile, still frozen and compact into white ice.
Ice, like you have in your freezer, is larger amounts of water, frozen as one unit, sitting still with nothing moving it. Solid ice.
Snow flakes are ice.
Just small frozen water drops which fall as snow and compile, still frozen and compact into white ice.
Ice, like you have in your freezer, is larger amounts of water, frozen as one unit, sitting still with nothing moving it. Solid ice.
Think of snow as cotton candy and ice as a lollipop (not exactly because one is elongated strands and the other is crystalline particles but same idea).
Think of snow as cotton candy and ice as a lollipop (not exactly because one is elongated strands and the other is crystalline particles but same idea).
Polar fleece and soda bottles are both made of PET. Shape matters a lot. Small slender pieces of material are flexible. Fiberglass insulation and window glass are both made of silica.
Polar fleece and soda bottles are both made of PET. Shape matters a lot. Small slender pieces of material are flexible. Fiberglass insulation and window glass are both made of silica.
Polar fleece and soda bottles are both made of PET. Shape matters a lot. Small slender pieces of material are flexible. Fiberglass insulation and window glass are both made of silica.
It’s all about structure. Sort of like how kitchen sponge foam is made of plastic, but if you melted a kitchen sponge down into a small block, it wouldn’t look or feel much like a sponge anymore.
Snow is sort of like an ice sponge – many tiny thin structures loosely packed together with lots of air in between.
Latest Answers