characteristic seasonal changes in nature take place every three months - in the spring, summer, autumn and winter.In our country, every year from December to February is actively snowing - one of the signs of the onset of winter.Does anyone know what is the snow?What is this phenomenon of nature in general?We find out in this article!
What
Snow Snow - This is a form of precipitation that consists of small crystals of ice.Scientists attribute it to Widespread precipitation falling directly to the ground.In addition, the snow - this is one of the essential features of winter, coming in one or another region of the globe.
Permanence and Impermanence snow
talking about what is the snow, not to mention his constancy.A common phenomenon - the low temperatures in the absence of snow.In principle, this is the norm when it comes to so-called winter climate, which is characterized by the presence of a permanent snow cover on the ground, which lies over the entire period of the calendar winter.
Oddly enough, but the constancy of snow - vacillates.At least in some parts of the world.Curiously, the residents of some warm regions (Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Madagascar, South America), the world does not know what snow is.And all because of a weather phenomenon in the warm parts of the world simply does not exist or there is a once in 10-20 years.
conditions for the existence of snow
It's amazing, but the seasonal nature of the phenomenon can exist only under two conditions:
- huge amount of moisture;
- low temperatures (below 0 degrees Celsius).
Forecasters have noticed that the most abundant snowfalls occur naturally at relatively high temperatures from -9 degrees Celsius and above.They explain this by the fact that the higher the temperature, the more water vapor it contains.That water vapor is essentially a "foundation" of snow.
For people interested in what is snow, we note that the range of water content is quite large: if you convert these values into numbers, you get between 0.1 and 5 centimeters of water in the 10-centimeter layer of snow,lying on the ground.Crucial here is the wind speed, the crystal structure of snow, temperature, etc.
What is the structure of snow
main constituent of the snow is, of course, a snowflake.Despite its minuscule size (an average of about 4 millimeters), a snowflake has an unusually perfect symmetry.But researchers are not surprised by this, but quite another!They think it is strange not to how snow is in its structure and to which a variety of bizarre shapes and patterns form weave faces snowflakes.
Considering snowflakes from this point of view, we can safely say that they are all unique.This kind of small miracle of light!Already scientifically proven that the snow "bricks" have to be extremely precise geometric lines, out of which a hexagon.In the bizarre shape of snowflakes affects the level of humidity and, of course, the ambient temperature.
to get a perfectly smooth snowflake, water molecules must freeze and turn to ice crystals.Being in close proximity to each other, they are trapped, like a chain, and freeze on a single principle, turning into a geometric shape.At the moment scientists have no doubt about what a snowflake is a collection of frozen water molecules arranged in a chain.
Why a snow
Snow has several basic properties, a beneficial effect on the environment.We consider these in more detail.
- Snow absorbs sound and reduces the impact of various external noises of the surrounding landscape.This happens because there are bubbles between the snowflakes with air, weakening external vibration.By the way, this explains the kind of crunching snow while walking in cold weather.Scrape publish frozen crystals, rubbing against each other when squeezed.From this, they deform and crack.
- What color is the snow?Generally, by nature, it has only white.It helps him to reflect sunlight, reducing the surrounding air temperature.But why should it be to lower?To the winter was winter, and do not thaw!In most regions of the world is inconceivable without winter snow and low temperatures.
- Another very important part of life in the natural snow - a kind of protection of flora and fauna from the harsh conditions outside.The fact that the snow cover ground retains heat accumulated during the summer, do not die giving small animals and many plants, even in hard frost.If you recall, what is the snow (seen above), it is easy to guess that it creates a certain reserve of moisture needed by the body during the spring awakening.
