- #1
Routaran
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I was sitting by a camp fire this weekend and I noticed that the snow/ice around the fire was melting in a strange way and I couldn't think of a good reason as to why it would leave this pattern. Essentially, it looked like small icicles all aimed towards the fire, almost parallel to the ground.
I've attached 3 images, 2 of them with my size 11 shoe in the picture to get an idea of scale.
I imagined that the surface was rough to begin with and as a result, the IR length photons that were depositing the heat on the ice were being absorbed more in some parts than in others. They would dig a hole in a sense. But I couldn't come up with a clear reason as to why they would form this repeating pattern all around the fire.
What exactly is causing the ice to form into hundreds of little icicles pointing towards the fire, parallel to the ground.
I've attached 3 images, 2 of them with my size 11 shoe in the picture to get an idea of scale.
I imagined that the surface was rough to begin with and as a result, the IR length photons that were depositing the heat on the ice were being absorbed more in some parts than in others. They would dig a hole in a sense. But I couldn't come up with a clear reason as to why they would form this repeating pattern all around the fire.
What exactly is causing the ice to form into hundreds of little icicles pointing towards the fire, parallel to the ground.