Salt for Snowy Conditions

Today, I talked over the phone with my friend from Siberia. We were discussing the difference in the weather in our countries, and I asked him what does he do when they get heavy snow storms (we don't get snow from where I come from).  He said that something very useful is to throw salt on the snow and ice so that it melts. The reason why this works is because salt lowers the freezing point of water, interrupting the change in phase. After the salt touches the snow, the snow's freezing point decreases causing the snow to freeze at lower temperatures. Therefore, after the snow melts, it will no longer refreeze unless it goes through an even lower temperature. I'll be sure to talk lots of salt with me if I ever visit him in Russia during the winter time!

Running on a dewy morning

This morning, we ran on a soccer field at 6:00AM.  I noticed that the grass was wet, and realized that it was "morning dew".  I became aware that the dew formed on the grass was there because it must have condensed from the water vapor that the air contained. Dew will start forming at night, when the surface of the earth starts to cool down, after a long day of retaining heat.  As the ground cools, it also cools the air around it.  When the air becomes saturated, it cannot hold the vapor that it contains, so this vapor condenses. The point when the air cannot hold the vapor anymore is called its dew point. After it passes the  dew point, it is when we can observe the water, or dew, on top of leaves (or in this case, the grass of the soccer field).

Float, not sink!

Today, I was drinking sweet tea with ice, when I became aware that all the ice cubes were floating.  The reason for this is because, unlike other substances, water has less density when it freezes than the density it has in its liquid state. Water is different from the other substances because of hydrogen bonds. Since ice is less dense (also lighter than water), the heavier water will move towards the bottom of the container while the lighter ice floats to the top.  Fun fact: this is why fish are able to survive in frozen lakes or ponds during the winter:  lakes and rivers freeze from top to bottom; the ice floats while there is still water in the bottom of the lake, allowing the fish to live and survive there.

Viscous Exercising

Today, as part of our conditioning we ran sprints on the track and in the pool. In the pool, we do a form of running called aqua-jogging. We put on a strap on our waists to help us float, and then we perform the same movement with our legs and arms as we would do on the track)   I noticed that I could run faster on the track than in the pool.  This is due to the difference in viscosity between air and water. Water has a higher viscosity than air, thus it is harder to move in water than in air.

Bulgarian's like their Vodka

Today, I visited my Bulgarian friend in her apartment.  When I opened the freezer, I noticed that she had a vodka bottle in there, but the liquid was not frozen.  This is because the freezing point of alcohol is lower than the freezing point of water. Water´s freezing point is 0 degrees Celcius, while alcohol's freezing point is -114 degrees Celcius.  The alcohol won't freeze because the freezer was set to freeze water (to make ice), so it wasn't cold enought to freeze the vodka.

Pasta night at the house

Yesterday, I decided to cook pasta. When I was boiling water, I noticed that the water level rose in the pot. This is because when a substance is being heated, it will start expanding, (therefore the volume increases) because the molecules in the substance start expanding as well due to the increase in kinetic molecule.

Iced coffee on a hot day

Today, I was drinking an iced coffee when I noticed that as the ice was melting when I was about to finish my drink, water condensed on the outside of the cup.  This was due to the lower temperatures on the surface of the cup.  The lower temperature cooled the air near the cup. At lower temperatures, the air can hold less water, causing the water in the air nearest to the cup to condense.