
Extruding Ice from Steel Fences and Pipes with Diurnal Freeze/Thaw - dwwoelfel
http://my.ilstu.edu/~jrcarter/ice/diurnal/extrude/
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crux
I have never seen anything like that in my life. I had assumed they must be
some kind of purposeful artwork or something—and then I saw that the author
had reproduced the same effect for himself. It was like being introduced to a
minor law of nature that I had never happened to meet before.

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fendrak
This page demonstrates a true hacker ethic: playing with interesting phenomena
to find out how they work. Aren't we lucky that you don't need electronics to
hack!

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redthrowaway
I far prefer this article to the one that's on Reddit's front page (
[http://unicurvedmirror.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-have-been-
gett...](http://unicurvedmirror.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-have-been-getting-
these-ice.html) ), if only because it doesn't make the ridiculous -50 degrees
(celsius) claim. I'm in Victoria, and it's currently 2 degrees, which is about
the coldest it's been in a month.

~~~
lutorm
Yeah, ice certainly isn't going to do something that plastic if it's -50C...

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oasisbob
Fascinating! He quotes a description of something I've seen before in NW
Washington, but could never explain:

>". . . ice-excrescences of soft, brilliant, asbestine appearance, and
uncommonly delicate to the touch. . . ."

Saw it on a hike, growing from logs. Very soft to the touch. I would compare
it to cotton candy, but the strands in cotton candy are more heterogeneous and
less organized.

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Lazlo_Nibble
I wonder if a similar effect is responsible for the little stalagmites that
occasionally grow in my ice cube tray. (Yes, stalag _mites_. No, there is no
moisture source above the tray.)

~~~
gus_massa
There is more information in two links from the main page of the site:

* with explanations: [http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/icespikes/ic...](http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/icespikes/icespikes.htm)

* with more links: <http://www.fredandsarah.plus.com/ice/index.html>

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JoeAltmaier
Strange things in nature. I remember a natural' hologram produced on a car
hood that had been waxed with a gritty cloth, when an ice sheet formed on the
hood.

[http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Tool-to-Draw-
Scratch-...](http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-a-Tool-to-Draw-Scratch-
Holograms!/)

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chanux
A little bit of basics to help myself :)

<http://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=1593>

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rjurney
Keep clicking. There's lots of fascinating stuff if you keep exploring around.

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po
I suspect using a square steel tube would work better because it gives the
pipe a very tiny bit of give relative to a round tube. It would allow a
smaller hole and faster extrusion without cracking.

