Advanced search

Answers


Ice circles

In February, the tarmac roof of my office building in Hilversum was covered in hoar-frost. When I went for a walk up there, I noticed some circle-shaped patches. An outer annulus had a darker colour than the surrounding hoar-frost, an inner disk was ice-free, and in the middle of the larger patches sat a millimetre-sized ice grain, resembling a small hail stone.There were some hundred of these patches, some merged, or with multiple ice-free inner disks. The day had started out freezing, but when I noticed the pattern, it was around 10 ° Celsius. All day, the sky had been sunny, but the tarmac was in the shadow of a building.What caused these patches?Bruno van Wayenburg, Leiden, Netherlands
media media
sssss
 (no votes)

submit an answer
  • Member status
  • none

Categories: Planet Earth, Weather .

Tags: weather, unanswered, animals, planet earth, environment.

 

Report abuse


1 answer(s)


Reply

Jon-Richfield says:

Without a closer look it is hard to tell, but I get a strong impression that the central "ice" pellet is not in fact pure ice, but something salty or otherwise water-soluble that inhibits freezing of water. It might be actual sodium chloride grains, or some other partly soluble mineral or soap or the like. This material then apparently diffused outwards from the centre. The highest concentration occurred round the pellet, where it completely prevented frost (or caused it to melt before teh picture was taken) and lower concentrations further out caused reduced frost formation.

Of course, it could also be a waxy or greasy material that discouraged formation of frost crystals without actually preventing freezing.

Sorry, but that is the best I can do without more information.

Mooi loop,

 

Jon

sssss
 (no votes)

Tags: weather, unanswered, animals, environment, planetearth.

top

posted on 2010-03-22 19:34:44 | Report abuse


The last word is ...

the place where you ask questions about everyday science

Answer questions, vote for best answers, send your videos and audio questions, save favourite questions and answers, share with friends...

register now


ADVERTISMENT