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Watch: Instant Vapor Forms in Siberia
Watch boiling water quickly freeze into tiny ice crystals
Related: Earth
By
AccuWeather
It's a popular experiment in very cold places. "Winter fun in Siberia!" Dmitry Klimensky, a Russian in Siberia, declared on Twitter, with a link to a video of him throwing a boiling pot of water into the freezing air.
The video went viral, spreading across the globe.
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"I'm on the top of the cover page right next to the news about a conflict between Putin and the Ukrainian president," Klimensky posted on his Facebook page. "Are there any more important things in this World than a pot of boiling water? :)"
What makes this trick work? Boiling water thrown into the air quickly freezes into tiny ice crystals. According to an article posted on University of California Riverside's physics page, hot water can freeze faster than cold water thanks to the "Mpemba effect." Author Monwhea Jeng theorized that one reason warm water freezes more quickly than cold is that the "lack of dissolved gas may change the ability of the water to conduct heat, or change the amount of heat needed to freeze a unit mass of water."
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According to Facebook, it looks like Klimensky lives in Novosibirsk, Russia. Novosibirsk, a city of around a million and a half people, sits almost 1,800 miles east of Moscow. It's a cold place, with an average December high of -10.1 C (13.8 F) and low of -17.5 C (0.5 F).
A cold wave started there around Dec. 10. Since then, low temperatures in the area have been near to below 40 degrees below zero C and F on as many as seven nights. The Fahrenheit and Celsius scales cross at 40 degrees below zero.
The nearest meteorological site to Novosibirsk registered consecutive lows of -41, -38, -42 and -43 degrees F, as of Wednesday, making these nights 40 or more degrees Fahrenheit colder than usual.
Find more weather news at AccuWeather.com.
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95 Comments
Science. Science is cool. Hey kids...yea you in middle and high school....study science and computers. You will make mass amounts of $$$ when you graduate college and get employed.
December 21 2012 at 7:46 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyUsed to do that kind of stuff in WV as a kid! Try another extreme, in the summer, on a very, very hot day, crack an egg on the sidewalk!
December 21 2012 at 6:14 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWow! That's so fun :) Thanks so much for sharing it! Perhaps you'll be a physicist !?:)
December 21 2012 at 2:43 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThis young man seems like an amiable, charming guy. Could be my next door neighbor. Scratch that. He'd be an improvement on my next door neighbor! Thanks to our Russian Comrade for our interesting science demonstration. You might want to think about moving to Minnesota. It's actually above zero here!!!
December 21 2012 at 2:27 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWith warmest regards,
An American Friend
seen this before, in Antartica at a base during winter.
December 21 2012 at 2:22 AM Report abuse Permalink +1 rate up rate down Replythis awesomeness just saved me from caving into the usual stupidity that everyone else is into. my eyes have opened back up before they have been shut completely.
December 21 2012 at 2:10 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyAwesome!
December 21 2012 at 1:58 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyDid anyone notice those people walking around in that cold?!
December 21 2012 at 12:38 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyIt is pretty sweet but I'm surprised so many people haven't heard of this before or seen a video of it before. Funny that it just now goes viral, but hey, good for him.
December 21 2012 at 12:37 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replyhttp://www.Hypnosis.mn
December 20 2012 at 9:55 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyHypnosis
February 20 2013 at 8:54 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply