Winter is here, and that time of the year in northern hemisphere is near when people would be seen rubbing their hands, breathing out smoke, and chattering teeth. Soon snow would make all the colors go white. And apart from this natural phenomenon of falling snow, Humans in the extreme Northern hemisphere are going to contributing to nature, by making more snow and capturing them in videos, making the videos go viral.
Yes, At negative 30-50 temperature with already so snow out, humans tend to make more snow to capture that in videos. Cant comment, human nature !
So, it probably would happen that you soon would be receiving video messages/whatsapp from your friends/ colleagues and everyone you know or don’t, who would send you videos, where a person standing in the background with loads of snow would throw hot bubbling water in the air and the water rather than falling on the ground and making hole in the cotton-y snow would vanish in the blink of an eye.
Wait, This is not magic or divine intervention, Bummer : Its Science !
So, Here is how this happens :
You must have seen water evaporating in summers when exposed to the open environment. So, how does that happen ? Its not 100 degrees out then to burn you alive, Its because water can evaporate into gas even when its below 100, say little more than room temperature ? Its because of the “Brownian motion “ which is the random jostling of water molecules.
Now picture this, It’s freaking freezing cold outside and you decide to take a cup of boiling water outside and throw it into the air. Instead of falling to the ground and searing a hole in the already-fallen snow… Boom! It magically turns into snow!
Have you ever seen this happen before? In recent years, this has become all the rage to videotape, particularly in regions that aren’t used to such extreme temperatures.
These videos go viral every winter. Are you pondering on to try this out yourself?
However, You need to make sure of these conditions that need to be fulfilled in order to create snow from boiling water :
1) Water should be boiled at 100° C (or 212° F)
2) The outside temperature should be very cold, in the range of (-20° to -30°C or below 0°F) Wow… that is awfully cold! Aint ?
Why Does Boiling Water Turn Into Snow?
First of all, what's really happening isn't the formation of snow, but the water is rapidly evaporating into vapor that immediately condenses into a cloud. Boiling water is closer to the point of evaporation than cold water. Cold air is very dense, which makes its capacity to hold water vapour molecules very low. Therefore, when hot water is thrown into extremely cold air, the smallest droplets are able to cool and evaporate in a dramatic cloud before they reach the ground.
In reality, this water isn’t actually converting into snow; rather, the water rapidly evaporates into vapor that immediately condenses into a cloud. Whatever it is, it still looks like snow. Beauty it is.
