8 ms·
Extruding Ice from Steel Fences and Pipes with Diurnal Freeze/Thaw
- crux 16y agoI have never seen anything like that in my life. I had assumed they must be some kind of purposeful artwork or something—and then I saw that the author had reproduced the same effect for himself. It was like being introduced to a minor law of nature that I had never happened to meet before.
- JoeAltmaier 16y agoStrange things in nature. I remember a natural' hologram produced on a car hood that had been waxed with a gritty cloth, when an ice sheet formed on the hood. http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Tool-to-Draw-Scratch-Holograms!/ http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Tool-to-Draw-Scratch-...
- redthrowaway 16y agoI far prefer this article to the one that's on Reddit's front page ( http://unicurvedmirror.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-have-been-getting-these-ice.html http://unicurvedmirror.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-have-been-gett... ), if only because it doesn't make the ridiculous -50 degrees (celsius) claim. I'm in Victoria, and it's currently 2 degrees, which is about the coldest it's been in a month.
- lutorm 16y agoYeah, ice certainly isn't going to do something that plastic if it's -50C...
- fendrak 16y agoThis page demonstrates a true hacker ethic: playing with interesting phenomena to find out how they work. Aren't we lucky that you don't need electronics to hack!
- Lazlo_Nibble 16y agoI wonder if a similar effect is responsible for the little stalagmites that occasionally grow in my ice cube tray. (Yes, stalagmites. No, there is no moisture source above the tray.)
- JoeAltmaier 16y agoI see the same thing - sometimes the ice is fractured and has voids, and there are irregular pillars/pyramids of ice sticking up!
- gus_massa 16y agoThere is more information in two links from the main page of the site: * with explanations: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/icespikes/icespikes.htm http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/icespikes/ic... * with more links: http://www.fredandsarah.plus.com/ice/index.html http://www.fredandsarah.plus.com/ice/index.html
- oasisbob 16y agoFascinating! He quotes a description of something I've seen before in NW Washington, but could never explain: >". . . ice-excrescences of soft, brilliant, asbestine appearance, and uncommonly delicate to the touch. . . ." Saw it on a hike, growing from logs. Very soft to the touch. I would compare it to cotton candy, but the strands in cotton candy are more heterogeneous and less organized.
- davidj 16y agoPut that in a cocktail. :)
- po 16y agoI suspect using a square steel tube would work better because it gives the pipe a very tiny bit of give relative to a round tube. It would allow a smaller hole and faster extrusion without cracking.
- chanux 16y agoA little bit of basics to help myself :) http://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=1593 http://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=1593
- rjurney 16y agoKeep clicking. There's lots of fascinating stuff if you keep exploring around.