People may have been wondering, "What kind of name is "Hoarfrost?" Well, lucky for those who want to know, I'm going to reveal why I bestowed such a name on one of my pets.
Image copyright "TwoBobs" Acording to the
Britannica Online Encyclopedia, Hoarfrost is a "deposit of ice crystals on objects exposed to the free air, such as grass blades, tree branches, or leaves. It is formed by direct condensation of water vapour to ice at temperatures below freezing and occurs when air is brought to its frost point by cooling. Hoarfrost is formed by a process analogous to that by which dew is formed on similar objects, except that, in the case of dew, the saturation point of the air mass is above freezing... Additionally, the air must be initially damp enough so that when cooled it reaches saturation, and any additional cooling will cause condensation to occur." (All my dad said is that is was Greek for "fire frost" or something like that.) It's a very pretty meteorological phenomenon in my opinion. Although you can't see it in this picture, if the sun hits hoarfrost just right, it sparkles.
GwynnieKittenLover · Mon Jun 23, 2008 @ 03:04pm · 0 Comments