The most detailed answer to the question of why the snow crunches underfoot

Children know how to puzzle parents and other adults with questions: Why is the sky above us blue? Why is the sun shining? Why is the river flowing? In winter, the favorite children's question: Why is the snow white, crunches and creaks underfoot? "And it's worth taking care of this interest right away, because the current winter is not the last one, and if you hush up the question now, he will face parents in just a year.

Snow Color

Why the snow crunches under your feet, we'll figure it out a little later, let's define first with the first part of the question. Children who are ripe for it, already know that the snow - it's frozen water, that is ice. The ice is transparent, accordingly - colorless, so why is it still snow white?

If you catch a snowflake and look closely at it, it's easy to see that it is basically also transparent. Color it acquires only when its facets reflect light - anyway, sunny or artificial. And if the snowflakes were neatly stacked, they would seem transparent, except that the faces would be painted - in the color of the sky or the nearest advertising bigboard. However, snow falls randomly, faces are exposed to the sun at different angles, reflect and refract it, again chaotic. As a result, the eyes perceive a freshly fallen snowdrift as perfectly white (of course, if there are no clouds in the sky).

When the snow crunches

Now it remains to find out why the snow creaks underfoot. Remembering that snowflakes are ice cubes, the answer to this question is not too difficult. The ice crystals they are are quite fragile, although they are solid. At the pressure on them (for example, under the mass of a person walking in the snow), snowflakes are destroyed, making a barely audible crunch. He accompanies the same almost (but only almost!) Soundless creaking from the friction of tiny ice cubs one by one. If only one snowflake broke, the human ear would not be able to hear such a quiet sound. However, tens of thousands, or even millions, of them, and the crunch, are audible with a creak. In addition, between the individual snowflakes in the snowdrift from the frost, very thin bonds appear-bridges invisible to the eye, but adding to their noise their note.

When the snow does not creak

Scions are not always satisfied with the answer: either consider it abstruse, or it does not coincide with their vision of the world. However, more often the following questions arise logically from your explanations: "And then why does the snow crunch underfoot in frost, and when it's not too cold-no?" First of all, because snowflakes become more flexible, elastic and do not break in minor colds Immediately - many under pressure are melting. Friction between individual crystals is also absent - it is "smeared" with water, which does not have time to freeze. And bridges, interlayers, too, are not formed, so there is nothing to burst. Accordingly, the question: "Why does the snow crunch underfoot" for a child walking beside does not arise. True, only to the nearest cold snap!

However, parents who have explained why the snow is crunching underfoot, and the sweating from the forehead, relieved, is not worth it. Very soon their child will be pleased with their next question - and who knows how successful it will be to answer it.