Freezing

“ The freezing of water, and its attendant expansion, are productive of multiplied and very diversified phenomena upon our globe, whether we contemplate them in the delicate spiculæ of hoarfrost, the six-rayed stars of snow, or in the stupendous glaciers of the Alps, and the awful icebergs of Greenland. ”

“ When below the freezing point, frost is formed or deposited on the earth. It is readily understood from this that the surface on which the frost is deposited is at a freezing temperature, while the air above it may not be freezing. ”

“ Tongue, palate, and lips refused further service until the ice became of freezing water temperature. The cause of this of course was that the ice contained a degree of coldness even far lower than the temperature of the air then around us. The air at twelve and one o'clock was only 42° below freezing point, while the berg was 60°—that is, 28° below zero. I took the precaution of holding succeeding pieces in my mittened hand until I raised their temperature to near freezing point, when I could with perfect safety introduce them to my parched tongue. ”

“ Freezing to death always begins during slumber, they say. Why, it would be better to be drowned than to freeze and let myself be drawn out in a net, yet 'tis all one whether I drown or freeze if only this stick — it seems to be a stick — were not beating against my back and I could lose consciousness. ”

“ It is; and the freezing of the watery vapour which the atmospheric heat could not dissolve, produces what is called a hoar frost; for the particles descend in freezing, and attach themselves to whatever they meet with on the surface of the earth. ”

“ Why the Freezing Point is at 32°.—If the freezing point of water were higher than 32°, freezing would occur so early in the autumn, and the ice and snow would last so late in the spring, that the season would be too short to raise our supplies of fruits and grains. If, on the other hand, it were at a lower point, the earth would not have the protection of its light coat of snow, but instead would be chilled by rains so cold that barrenness would be the result. ”

“ It is thought the snows of winter furnish the water and a draught of cold air the freezing, this having been carried on until a solid body of ice has formed among the rocks, which melts a little by day and freezes again by night, so that the supply remains from season to season. ”

“ Everything freezes solid, and so far we have not found one edible that is improved by freezing. It must be awfully discouraging to a cook to find on a biting cold morning, that there is not one thing in the house that can be prepared for breakfast until it has passed through the thawing process; that even the water in the barrels has become solid, round pieces of ice! All along the roof of one side of our house are immense icicles that almost touch the snow on the ground. ”

“ The other boys were also much startled, but Mr Ross quieted their fears by telling them that these sounds were caused by the bursting in the trees, as the result of the freezing sap. Water in freezing always expands, and as there is sufficient sap in some trees, when it freezes, it bursts them. ”

“ The expansion of water at freezing is vastly important in its relations to life. Without this property, water in high latitudes would become permanently solid, and the aspect of Nature be one of lifeless desolation. Water, in cooling from a high temperature, contracts in volume, and the cooled particles sink until the mass is reduced throughout to a temperature about seven degrees above the freezing-point, when an important change takes place. ”

“ The Action of Freezing and Thawing.—In those parts of a rock stratum exposed near the surface of the earth the processes of freezing and thawing have perhaps had considerable influence in rock decay. The expansive force of freezing water is well known. Ice occupies a larger volume than the water from which it was formed. ”

“ There is nothing in the study of the atmosphere that so intimately concerns the horticulturist and the gardener as knowledge of the conditions under which frost forms, and the methods that may be pursued to gain immunity from its disastrous effects, or to lessen the loss.
Frost does not necessarily form from air that has fallen to the freezing point, as many suppose. On the contrary, the air ten feet or less above the vegetation may be several degrees above freezing when there is a heavy and destructive frost upon vegetation. ”

“ And here it may be proper to observe, on what has been said above, that though frosts advance to their utmost severity by somewhat of a regular gradation, yet thaws do not usually come on by as regular a declension of cold; but often take place immediately from intense freezing; as men in sickness often mend at once from a paroxysm. ”

“ The prying work of frost.—In all countries where winter temperatures range below the freezing point of water, a most potent agent of rock disintegration is the frost which pries at every crevice and cranny of the surface rock. ”

“ In the cold weather, when the temperature of the air at the ice fields is under 50°, ice is formed in the dishes. The freezing is most active with N. N. W. airs, as these are driest; it ceases entirely with southerly or easterly airs, even though their temperature may be lower than that of the N. N. W. wind.
“No ice is formed if the wind is sufficiently strong to be called a breeze, for the air is not left long enough at rest, above the bed, for its temperature to fall sufficiently, by the action of radiation. ”

“ A volume of air laden with moisture comes in contact with a colder volume of air, when condensation takes place, as in the case of rain, except that the moisture is immediately frozen. In this case both volumes of air may be below the freezing point, but one is very much colder than the other. If the snow reaches the earth it will be because the air is below the freezing point all the way down. Snow is formed at all seasons of the year. We may have a snowstorm on a high mountain when we have extreme heat at sea-level. ”

“ For the layer of ice formed, being lighter than water, floats on the surface of the latter, and thus forms a protective layer and prevents to a large extent further freezing, except as a slow thickening of the layer, the total freezing of the water of a lake or river being rendered practically impossible, an obvious provision for the security of life of the piscatorial and other inhabitants of the waters. ”

“ Every one who has watched the freezing of a lake or pond, or any other collection of still water, must be well aware that the ice begins to form on the surface in thin plates or layers, which on the continuance of the frost gradually become thicker and more solid, until the water is affected in a downward direction, and becomes, perhaps, a solid mass of ice. ”

“ Radiation of heat causes freezing, and freezing crumbles rocks into soil, or it forms the clouds in the air, whose deluges hollow valleys; [pg 622] while electricity cleaves and splinters the summits of the mountain peaks. ”

“ In our country when the air in the course of a frost continues a day or two at very near 32 degrees, the common heat of the earth thaws the ice on its surface, while the thermometer remains at the freezing point. ”

“ Snow and ice are bad conductors of cold; and when the ground is covered with snow, or the surface of the soil or of water is frozen, the roots or bulbs of plants beneath are protected by the congealed water from the influence of the atmosphere, the temperature of which, in northern winters, is usually very much below the freezing point ”

“ Where the cold is so intense, a river becomes frozen from the surface to the ground. Snow falls, there may be a little rain during the moderate season, then snow comes again, and all the time the water beneath is freezing more and more solid. Gravity and the pressure of the inconceivable weight beyond keeps forcing the bulk of ice and snow nearer the ocean, until it projects into the clear sea. ”

“ The hard snow-crust, which in the early spring is a source of such keen enjoyment to the children and youth of the North—and to many older persons in whom the love of nature has kept awake a relish for the simple pleasures of rural life—is doubtless due to the congelation of the vapor condensed by the snow rather than to the thawing and freezing of the superficial stratum; for when the surface is melted by the sun, the water is taken up by the absorbent mass beneath before the temperature falls low enough to freeze it. ”

“ Ice forms, and every particle of water is swollen by the change. A strain is put upon the mineral particles against which the particles of ice crowd for more room. Frost is a very powerful agent in the crumbling of rocks, as well as of stubborn clods of earth. In warm climates, and in desert regions where there is little moisture in the rocks, this destructive action of freezing water is not known. In cold countries, and in high altitudes, where the air is heavy with moisture, its greatest work is done. ”

“ From hence I would infer that it is the repeated melting and freezing of the snow that is so fatal to vegetation, rather than the severity of the cold. Therefore it highly behaves every planter, who wishes to escape the cruel mortification of losing in a few days the labour and hopes of years, to bestir himself on such emergencies ”

“ This conclusion, it may be remarked, is of doubtful applicability in regions of excessive climate like the Northern United States and Canada, where the snow keeps the temperature of the soil in the forest above the freezing-point, for a large part and sometimes the whole of the winter, while in unwooded ground the earth remains deeply frozen. ”

“ The gradual dropping of the pointer before freezing, unless there is a large mass of salt, takes place rapidly enough for one to be sure that the temperature is constantly falling, and the long period of rest during freezing is quite definite. ”

“ It is the air entangled among the snow crystals, then, which makes the snow blanket, as we often call it, so sure a protection from cold. The ground may have frozen to a considerable depth before the snow comes, but if it stays throughout the winter there is no frost in the earth beneath it when the spring melts it away. No sooner is the ground protected from further freezing from above than the greater warmth below begins to melt the frost and change it to life-giving moisture. ”

“ Some persons are for drinking ice, others for quaffing snow, and thus is the curse of the mountain steep turned into an appetizing stimulus for the palate!936 Cold is carefully treasured up for the summer heats, and man’s invention is racked how best to keep snow freezing in months that are not its own. ”

“ Even deciduous trees provide it and the level boughs of evergreens give layer after layer of air that fends from the cold. Even without the snow, the frost penetrates but a little way in the earth of the woods. No matter how low the temperature above the tree-tops and in the open spaces, the ground beneath the trees hardly freezes, and, if the snow comes, the moment its blanket is spread the temperature beneath it warms to above freezing and the frost comes out. ”

“ If water, like other fluids, continued to increase in [323] density to the freezing point, the cold air of winter would rob the water of our lakes and rivers of its heat, until the whole was reduced to the temperature of thirty-two degrees; when, but for the circumstance to which we have just alluded, it would be immediately converted into a solid mass of ice from top to bottom, causing instant death to every animal living in it. ”

“ Friday, Feb. 1st, 1861.
My dear Cerjat,
You have read in the papers of our heavy English frost. At Gad's Hill it was so intensely cold, that in our [139] warm dining-room on Christmas Day we could hardly sit at the table. In my study on that morning, long after a great fire of coal and wood had been lighted, the thermometer was I don't know where below freezing. The bath froze, and all the pipes froze, and remained in a stony state for five or six weeks. The water in the bedroom-jugs froze, and blew up the crockery. The snow on the top of the house froze, and was imperfectly removed with axes. ”

“ You know that, in the freezing months, much of the warmth we get is given out by the earth, from which, at intervals, if not constantly, to some extent, ascend the warm vapors to mingle with and moderate the cold atmosphere above. ”

“ The transition of water to ice, and of ice to water, produces important changes in the temperature of surrounding objects. We are often made painfully sensible of the chilling influence of the atmosphere when its heat is rapidly abstracted in the melting of large masses of ice and snow. But the reverse of this takes place in freezing. The crystallization of water is attended with an elevation of temperature. The heat which vapor carries with it in its aërial journeys is liberated when those vapors are transformed into flakes of snow. ”

“ Whether in Cold, the diffusion from Cold Bodies be made more strongly downwards, contrary to that of Hot Bodies: Where is delivered a way of freezing Liquors without danger of breaking the Vessel, by making them begin to freeze at the bottom, not the top.
6. Whether that Tradition be true, that if frozen Apples or Eggs be thaw'd neer the Fire, they will be thereby spoil'd, but if immersed in cold water, the Internal Cold will be drawn out, as is supposed, by the External Cold; and the frozen Bodies will be harmlesly thawed? Item, Whether Iron, or other Metals, Glass, Stone, Cheese, &c. ”

“ At a temperature considerably below freezing point snow commonly falls in the condition of fine grains that do not cohere when they meet, and, in a mechanical sense, differ from those of sand only by being lighter. Our observations on the relation between the form of the larger ridges and the smaller ripple marks, and the direction of the wind, quite agree with those published by Maw. ”