Capillary ice melts just by touching it. Photo: BBC Mundo / Courtesy
Those who take a winter walk in the forests of Northern Ireland these days may be in for a surprise.
In the middle of the branches From trees in Fermanagh and Tyrone counties ice has formed that looks like cotton candy.
Seen up close, you can see hundreds of icy strands, as if it were a delicate white hair .
When touched, or with the heat of the sun, they melt.
Those who walk in the woods in Northern Ireland can come across the ice hairs. This strange phenomenon is known as capillary ice or frozen flowers.
The enigma that led Freud to search for months for eel testicles Why happens? These crystals form on rotten wood on humid winter nights, when the temperature is just below 0 ° C.
Scientists have discovered that the phenomenon is caused by a fungus called e xidiopsis effusa , which allows ice to form thin hairs, with a diameter of approximately 0, 05 mm.
It’s like growing cotton from sugar on the trees. In 1200, researchers from the University of Bern published a study in which they explained that Capillary ice maintains its shape due to a “recrystallization inhibitor” generated by the fungus.
The ice age woolly rhinoceros recovered “with intact organs” from the arctic ice of Russia This inhibitor prevents small crystals from becoming larger crystals.
This video from the European Union of Geosciences shows in fast motion how capillary ice forms:
Capillary ice grows mainly in latitudes between 45 and 55 degrees north, in countries like Canada, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Netherlands, Russia, Scotland, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States and Wales.
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