How Snow Sinters
Quinzies work because the snow hardens after it sets for more than an hour, depending temperature. This also happens to track in cold temperatures. ES student used microscopes to examine what happened to snow crystals that underwent that change. They put the dissections microscopes outside and let then acclimatize to the -20 Celsius. Students observes crystals bond together following cold weather disturbance. They notices crystals bond together in a process referred to as sintering. The literature indicated that this process is related to the water vapor bonding crystals. This process alows quinzes to harden so that they remain stable and get stronger overnight. The insulating characteristics of the quinzies does not appear to diminish with this process. |