The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1874-10-07
SCIENTIFIC &ND CURIOUS
FACES.

Snow is one ot the many objects
which absorb and are warmed by
the solar heat. On Il sunny day
you may see the SUBMITS of the
high Alps glistcninS with thc water
OF liqueiuction, while the air above
and around the mountains may be
many degree below The freezing
point. The Same thing happens to
the snow upon your nousr roof
The sun plays upon ii, and mclts
it, The water tricklcs to the caves,
IN" hangs i'll II drop. II the caves
are in thc shade, or in declining
sunshine, or the air intensely cold
with II brilliant sun, the drop, in
stead of falling, congcals. An infant
iciclc is formed. Other drops and
driblets succeed, which both thick
cn it at the root and lcngthcn it,
The drainage from the snow, after
sunshine IS gone, continues to pro,
ducc iciclcs until the flow of water
is stopped by the frost. In the
Alps, DR.. Tyndall tells us when the
hqucIaction is copious and the
cold intense, icicl"s grow to an
enormous size. Over the edges
mostly the southern cdgcs) Of the
rhasms, hangs a coping Of SHOW,
and from this depend, like stalar
tltcs, rows of transparent iciclcs,
ten, twenty, thirty feet long, con
stituting one Of the most beautiful
features of the higher crcvasscs.--
But an iciclo would be incomprc.
hensiblc if we did not know that
thc solar beams may pass through
the air, and still leave it ut an icy
temperature.
Hail is another form of water,
which VIC can not regard with in
difference when the heavens are
pclting us with solid missiles. l
have seen whole city, covered
with stout red tiles, unroofcu by a
single hailstorm. What became of
the windows it is needless to state.
GlazIcrs were III request for weeks
afterward. Like rain, hail, is form
cd when two or more strata Of
clouds over lie one another, but
with q difference in their respective
physical conditions.
Hail is prodnced during tempests,
when the temperature, very high
at the survaco Of the earth, de-
crcases rapidly ut loftier attitudes.
In that case the upper clouds con-
sist of icy particles, the middle stra-
ta Of watcry vesicles below the frccz,
ing point and the lower strata
Of vesicles above the freezing
point. Usually those clouds trnv-
el in different directions, and hail
is produced when q conflict OF
opposing winds compels a mixture
Of clouds of such different tempera-
lures. The rain drops resulting,
instantly frozen, have the time du,
ring their fall to increase in size by
the condensation Of water on their
surface, and not seldom by combi-
nation, to unite into large and de-
structive hailstones.
The formation Of hailstOnss is al
ways rapid. The clouds from which
they fall are never spread over a
very wide area. Sailing before the
wind they pound and riddle strips
of land often less than a mile, and
rarely ten miles, wide, although the
lengths Of the strips passed over is
sometimes considerable. Hailstones
have been picked up weighing more
than half pound avoirdupois. In
somc instances, this weight, on
credible authority, has been very
much exceeded. On such occasions
it is not surprising that trees should
be stripped Of their leaves and
branches, the larger animals mutt,
lated, "tho small deer" and game
killed outright. Tho greater the
development Of electricity in a tenn
pest, the greater is tho tendency
Of downfall of hail. Hail occurs
principally in summer apd in tho
afternoon namely, under tho me
tcorological conditions that have
just yeen mcntioned-grcat heat al
the surface of the soil, rapidly dim
inishing higher up in the alr, will
strong clond-cvaporation under the
action of the sun. Nevertheless, as
the simple conflict Of an upper very
cold wind with very hot one
raised to the same lofty region
may bring about the formation O
hail, it sometimes falls in winter
and sometimes in tho pight, but
those arc the exceptions rather thai
tho rule.
AS water, during it's metamol
phosis into snow, assumes o. beau
tiful star-like form. so does the dis