2. Artificial snow is used
on ski slopes, movie
sets and decorating.
Artificial snow for ski
slopes creates the same
ski effect as natural
snow does
Brian Rohrig said that,
“more artificial snow
falls on ski slopes than
natural snow.”
3. Snow made for ski slopes is made through
essentially a “snow gun”
The first step is to pump water right above its
freezing point through the gun with high
pressure
Secondly, the gun has to give off some kind
of nucleation site for the water to adhere too
such as clay or dust particles
4. Natural snow forms when liquid particles
freeze as they fall to the ground
The water undergoes deposition, turning
from a liquid straight to a solid
This is the opposite of sublimation which we
studied earlier this year
Scientists have tried to duplicate this process
through artificial snow
5. The first and most
important aspect of
making this snow is
having the correct
humidity and the right
temperature
The process begins with
the water right above its
freezing point being shot
out of the gun nozzle 20-
30 feet above the ground
6. While the water is being shot out, it is
accompanied by compressed air
This makes the water spread into small droplets
and spreads them over a larger area
The compressed air also helps lower the
temperature because when gases expand the
temperature lowers
This happens because gases have weak attractive
forces between their molecules and when the
molecules are pushed farther apart they lose
their kinetic energy
7. Depending on the temperature (15-20 degrees
F), organic materials such as magnesium,
calcium or clay particles can serve as nucleation
sites
If it isn't cold enough, inorganic materials such
as silver iodide, soaps and detergents are used to
help the snow form
Once the water molecules adhere
to the nucleation sites, the snow falls
to the ground
8. A newer technology
are machines that have
nucleating agents in
them that is produced
with the water
The agents are “dead,
nonpathogenic bacteria
that is cultured, freeze
dried into pellets and
finally sterilized”
This process is
becoming popular
because it produces no
pollution and is all
natural
9. Formation of artificial snow
enables ski resorts to have
snow year round
This directly affects the
economy in those parts of the
world
The need for artificial snow to
be made is the absence of
deposition
Snow isnt only important to
ski slopes, but to movie
makers to make scenes more
life-like
10. Ritter, Steve. "Artificial Snow." The
Newsmagazine of the Chemical World 19 Jan.
2004: 72. Chemical and Engineering News.
Web. 10 Apr. 2013.
<http://pubs.acs.org/cen/whatstuff/stuff/8203sno
w.html>.
Rohrig, Brian. "Artificial Snow Powder for the
Slopes." ChemMatters Dec. 2000: 10-11. Print.
American Chemical Society. "Artificial Snow
Creates Winter All Year Round." ScienceDaily,
20 Jan. 2004. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.
