When they evaporate, drops of liquids like coffee and red wine leave behind stains with a darker ring along the edges, thanks to capillary action and surface tension pulling particles Keep reading
Tag: sublimation
Icy Penitentes
At high, dry altitudes, fields of snow transform into rows of narrow, blade-like formations as tall as 2 meters. Known as penitentes – due to their similarity to kneeling worshipers Keep reading
Leidenfrost Atop Gasoline
The animations above show a little of what happens when you pour a spoonful of liquid nitrogen onto a container of gasoline. A couple of things are happening simultaneously here. Keep reading
Sublimation
Sublimation is a transition directly from a solid phase to a gaseous one. Given typical Earth atmospheric conditions, one of the most commonly observed examples of sublimation is that of Keep reading
Pouring Molten Aluminum on Dry Ice
What happens when you pour molten aluminum on dry ice? As the Backyard Scientist shows, you get what looks like slippery, sliding, boiling metal. In fact, what you see may Keep reading
Rebounding Off Dry Ice
Droplet rebound is frequently associated with superhydrophobic surfaces but can also be generated by very large temperature differences. For very hot substrates, a thin layer of the drop vaporizes on Keep reading