A
Anonymous
Guest
To all:
On November 2, 2003, my wife pulled a package of frozen vegetables from our freezer and showed it to me. It had a kind of icicle protruding upward from the edge of the box, about 2 1/2 inches long and half and inch wide. My wife said she was only amused by the fact that it made the box look like a cell phone.
I, however, remembered some items I'd seen on the http://www.science-frontiers.com site, from articles in the publication. Science Frontiers has listed several different occasions when odd stalagmitic icicles have developed, under a number of circumstances. In issue #79, January-February 1992, for example, thr article "Spooky Spike", under the Geology section, describes an icicle growing upward, at a 45º angle from a dish used to provide water to birds, after a particularly cold night. This was thin, and ended with a spear-like head. In issues #100, #102 and #104, in the Geology or Geophysics sections, they discuss other such stalagmitic icicles forming in a birdbath and on top of an ice cube in a freezer! These were usually described as thin or prismatic in form, and not all formed at 45º angles.
One theory proposed in the November 2, 1991 edition of New Scientist was that the first spike formed due to the tendency of masses of water to expand as they freeze. Another theory upheld that water in liquid or ice form and water in the atmosphere attact as dipoles, and that, therefore, the icicle stalagmite grew by accretion around an irregularity in an ice sheet.
There was no icicle above the box in our freezer, to drip water onto the box and form a "normal" stalagmite. The box was on the top shelf, on the door, so there was nowhere above it a down hanging icicle could have dropped water onto it. Nor was there anything like a body of water on the box, to form a stalagmite by expanding upward. The theory about water accreting from the air is the closest of all those theories to explaining how this icicle formed.
It should be mentioned, however, that this formed thicker than the ones mentioned, and was circular, not prismatic. However, the earliest form of the icicle may have been like a prism. Also, this seemed to form straight up, not at 45º.
Below is a photograph of the icicle, from several angles.
It may be interesting to note if there are other similar instances elsewhere, that can be mentioned. Too, it may not be as likely to have much of the component mineral constituents of rock stalagmites present in the air of caves, but some can be present in water droplets in the air. It may be interesting to hear if there are any oddly shaped stalgmites that may have, at least partially, formed through an accretion.
Julian Penrod
On November 2, 2003, my wife pulled a package of frozen vegetables from our freezer and showed it to me. It had a kind of icicle protruding upward from the edge of the box, about 2 1/2 inches long and half and inch wide. My wife said she was only amused by the fact that it made the box look like a cell phone.
I, however, remembered some items I'd seen on the http://www.science-frontiers.com site, from articles in the publication. Science Frontiers has listed several different occasions when odd stalagmitic icicles have developed, under a number of circumstances. In issue #79, January-February 1992, for example, thr article "Spooky Spike", under the Geology section, describes an icicle growing upward, at a 45º angle from a dish used to provide water to birds, after a particularly cold night. This was thin, and ended with a spear-like head. In issues #100, #102 and #104, in the Geology or Geophysics sections, they discuss other such stalagmitic icicles forming in a birdbath and on top of an ice cube in a freezer! These were usually described as thin or prismatic in form, and not all formed at 45º angles.
One theory proposed in the November 2, 1991 edition of New Scientist was that the first spike formed due to the tendency of masses of water to expand as they freeze. Another theory upheld that water in liquid or ice form and water in the atmosphere attact as dipoles, and that, therefore, the icicle stalagmite grew by accretion around an irregularity in an ice sheet.
There was no icicle above the box in our freezer, to drip water onto the box and form a "normal" stalagmite. The box was on the top shelf, on the door, so there was nowhere above it a down hanging icicle could have dropped water onto it. Nor was there anything like a body of water on the box, to form a stalagmite by expanding upward. The theory about water accreting from the air is the closest of all those theories to explaining how this icicle formed.
It should be mentioned, however, that this formed thicker than the ones mentioned, and was circular, not prismatic. However, the earliest form of the icicle may have been like a prism. Also, this seemed to form straight up, not at 45º.
Below is a photograph of the icicle, from several angles.
It may be interesting to note if there are other similar instances elsewhere, that can be mentioned. Too, it may not be as likely to have much of the component mineral constituents of rock stalagmites present in the air of caves, but some can be present in water droplets in the air. It may be interesting to hear if there are any oddly shaped stalgmites that may have, at least partially, formed through an accretion.
Julian Penrod
