Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have explained what causes the characteristic crunch of fresh snow. This was reported by portal Live Science.
Although snow has been well researched, the nature of the sound it makes when compressed has long remained without scientific explanation.
According to MIT materials science professor Craig Carter, snow cracking occurs when thousands of microcrystals break simultaneously, destroying its complex structure.
Snow forms when water droplets freeze on microparticles such as dust or pollen. When enough snowflakes accumulate in one place, they begin to solder together and form bridges between crystals.
A person stepping on fresh snow breaks through thousands of jumpers that explode with a familiar sound. Frost remains another criterion for sound generation – the colder the environment, the louder the snow crackles. This is because at near-zero temperatures the crystals are covered with a layer of water and crack almost silently.
Scientists have discovered that the squeak of wet sand has the same structure – grains of wet silica sand are soldered and open under load.
Previous researchers in the name It is an important factor in maintaining the world’s snow cover.