Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => The Environment => Topic started by: paul.fr on 25/03/2007 07:54:22
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would it be possible for a clouds contents not to fall as rain or snow. But to freeze and drop as one big block of ice?
an ice cloud!
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You know that is a weird question and I just heard pretty recently that somewhere a huge chunk of ice like you described fell from the sky~! I don't know of the validity of the claim I just remember thinking how strange is that!
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I am sure Paul means that the chunk of ice he is referring to as being the whole cloud sized !!.......if I'm right then it would just be way too heavy to remain afloat until it decided to drop earthbound...
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That's right. The ice crystals are held aloft by updrafts. As soon as their downward acceleration due to gravity exceeds the upward acceleration of the air currents then the ice falls. This limits the size of particles that fall as snow or hail.
The largest hail stone ever collected fell in 2003 in Nebraska. It measured about 7 inches in diameter (18.75 inches in circumference) - pretty big.
Chris
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Thanks everyone. I think you may be hearing about toilet waste from aeroplanes Karen.
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My husband drove through a town driving a big rig and the hail that was falling was softball size and denting the hoods of the cars. He said traffic had totally stopped. He came through at the end of the down pour! This was in a place called Council Bluff, Iowa. It boaders Iowa and Nebraska lines. He said as he moved along the road through town, where it had stopped all the new car lots were already dragging out big signs that said reduced prices Hail Damage Sales.. On Brand New CArs! LOL They must have trouble like this on occassion as they already had the signs prepared. LOL!
Toilet waste from Airplanes eh?? Lovely..LOL! Wouldn't that be such a nice surprise, landing on top of you!! Who knows but I couldn't recall where they said the chunk came from..LOL Could have been though!! LOL
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Yep. I think it isn't possible because the vapours aren't all attached to each other. Therefore, it just isn't possible to freeze as a whole block, although parts of the vapour may be stuck together, which is why there are big hail stones, but an unlikely chance of all the vapours to have stuck together. Also, if it does stuck together, it would be too heavy, resulting in rain?