Twenty below is a magic number

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’ve seen hot water at cold temperatures before. My grandfather used to hate to scrape his windshield. Whenever there was frost, he would take the teakettle out and dump it over his windows. I was quite surprised that it took three years before he lost his first windshield that way.
Anyway, the point of that little story is that I’ve seen what hot water does in Vermont winters before. It steams a bit, then it turns to ice, you slip on it and then you die. That’s just what it does.

Last Friday, I learned that -20 is a magic temperature. That at -20 it was possible to toss a cup of boiling water into the air and have it turn to ice before it fell.
I was provided with a picture taken at the Antarctic science station of just that - a bearded man tossing a cup of water into the air and having a spray of ice and frozeny-vapor come out. I could hear science calling me.

The next day was a Saturday, and one of my precious days off, but science yowled for escape, clawing the inside of my head until I twitched a bit. Then I set the alarm for 5:45.

It turns out that it was still too dark to photograph outside at 5:45 in the morning, but the water that I had heated made a nice cup of tea. I should have known it would be too dark - I usually get up at 5 on weekdays - but the tea was very good.

At 6:15 I put more water on to boil, and suited up again. It was cold outside, and I needed proper protection from the weather. Down jacket, boots and fluffy pink scarf later, and I was ready to go. Fellow-member and wife Flashpoint also suited up to be my partner-in-science. Watson to my Crick, Tom to my Jerry and photojournalist to my folly.

Boiling water went into my trusty blue Thermos, and out we went.

Success!

It worked.

Right-click, Save as for a three-second video (mpg, 627 kb).

I resent the cold a bit less now, knowing that I could toss things into the air in a beautiful display any time I care to.
Much thanks to imageshack for the free pic hosting.

2

Cool!

(or “effin’ freezing,” one or the other)

3

That is really cool.

I have used tap water to get the ice off my windshield for more then ten years and haven’t lost a windshield yet. Of course it is rarely less the 25 degrees here and water I use is never really hot, just warmer then the ice.

4

Gravity –

You’ve already noticed that water freezes when thrown in the air at these cold temps, so try this: go out and blow bubbles.

Two extraordinary things happen when they freeze. Report back (or in a pinch I’ll tell you what happens.)

Best regards,

Mooney252
Ex-Minnesotan

5

Mooney,

Could you post what happens when you do that? I live in the Bay Area so I won’t get the chance to experiment in the foreseeable future…

Thanks

6

Didn’t I read here that some guy up north got busted for peeing not on his car’s windshield but on the door locks in an effort to unfreeze them? Man, you guys have all the fun.

stumbles off trying to find some way to justify peeing on his own car

7

JCorre –

This one’s for you! I’d have done a spoiler but was too lazy to figure out the code. . .

When the bubbles are first blown, it takes them about 1-2 seconds to freeze at these temperatures. Bubbles float because of their deformation; the flattening of a bubble gives it more resistance as it falls.

So, the first thing that happens is that when they freeze, the form round balls that are solid. And they fall fast. (Perhaps a better physicist than I can explain why a normally flattened bubble freezes in a shape close to a perfect sphere.)

Then, when they land – they shatter, as if you’d exploded a lightbulb.

Best regards,

Mooney252

8

A-HA! A new experiment!

Unfortunately, it is only 3 out this morning. Not even below zero.
Oh well, it’s below freezing - I’ll see how it goes.

9

Your spirit of discovery and intrest in experimentaion is admirable.

You are truly following in Cecil Adams’ foot steps.

I salute you! :slight_smile: :cool:

10

Alas and alack, 3 is too warm for the bubbles to freeze. They pop before they do.

I can’t wait for more cold weather, to try this out.

11

For the record, at what temperature can you freeze bubbles? -10, -20?

12

This is the coolest thing ever. It’s probably cold enough here, in the middle of PA, to do it. I’ll have to try it. Plus it will probably get my nephews interested in science.

SCIENCE! TRY IT!

13

Parental Advisory –

I’m pretty sure that it starts working at 10 - 15 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit). I did it several years ago while living in Chicago and I believe that the day we first tried it the temps were a balmy -15.

Cold does amazing things:

  • a niece’s boyfriend drove from Terre Haute to Roachdale, IN with the thermometer below 0 and the radiator coolant frozen solid. It was cold enough to keep the engine cool – though he was puzzled why the heater wouldn’t warm the car.
  • when living in MN, I saw the rear axle of a car snap in -20F and the car just sagged to the ground.
  • Mooneys flying in -40 to -60 degree temps can have the oil in the engine freeze in a poorly-understood process called “coring”. (Mechanics can solve it by redirecting air flow but it’s very alarming to a pilot who watches oil pressure go down, while oil temps go up and the plane’s in danger of losing power.)

Best regards,

Mooney252