The Road Home

The Road Home
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Tuesday, February 11, 2014

An Odd & Interesting Thing

A while back I set a five gallon bucket off the edge of the porch where the roof would drip into it. Well, it has frozen and thawed a few times over the past month or so.


The other day, when it was warmer, and the ice had melted away from the edge of the bucket, Frank tried to take the top layer of ice out, but it wouldn't budge.


So he turned the bucket over on it's side. There was a lot more ice in there than we thought.


Then he dumped it over so the ice would come out. It looked like a bucket of ice. When he turned it upside down, a cavity appeared on the bottom.


There was a symmetrically rounded, hollowed out portion in the middle of the ice that formed from the bottom. We found this to be fascinating.


I don't understand the physics of ice and ground temperatures enough to figure out how this happened. I just think it is really neat.


Now I'm just wondering how long it will take it to melt..... Life is just full of fascinating things. Don't you think so?


Until next time - Fern


7 comments:

  1. The buckets we use for watering the livestock do this. I collect the ice "buckets" along the walkway and use them for luminaries.
    Did you figure out how this works?

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    Replies
    1. No, Odiie, I haven't figured out how this works. Can you share it with us?

      Fern

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    2. I'm clueless. Maybe I'll do a bit of research.

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  2. I agree that the world is full of fascinating things, and I've noticed that same phenomenon about the "hole" in the bottom of a solid bucket of ice. If you're into holiday decorating, you can turn the ice over so the "hole" is on top and put a lit votive candle in it. It's kind of neat to line the walk with several of them. And yes, it takes quite awhile for one to melt, but I bet it will this week - warm weather is on the way!

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  3. A large plug of ice like that is a nice way to slowly deep water a tree. Just sayin'...

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