Why Do People Say Snow is Fake?

I check whether or not snow is fake and explain why some have claimed it seems to not do wht you would expect in a flame.

[Ezra]

I thought I was dumb, but then there's people who think snow is fake

[fealubryne]

When I was a kid we had a blizzard where we lived, and my family, along with my grandparents, went out and dug big tunnels in the snow to get from place to place. But eventually we kept digging more tunnels for fun, and then when it got dark my grandma brought candles out to light up the area, we dug shelves to put them. It lit up the tunnels from the inside, and it was honestly beautiful, the roads had long been cleared so cars would slow down as they passed to look at it.

Was one of my best memories as a kid, but even back then I realized that above the snow shelves where the heat from the candles hit it was turning black and not melting. I guess not a lot of people played with fire and snow at the same time as kids, heh.

[moonblaze]

There really are people who will notice that a thing didn't react the way they expected it to and instead of being filled with wonder about how complex the world is, or excitement over a new thing to learn, they point and yell "Witch!"

[lazylemon]

A snowball is basically a sponge. So when it melts it starts to absorb itself

[JariDawnchild]

I came across this a handful of years ago. I tried it myself, and I was so fascinated I did it several more times throughout that winter. I used a BIC lighter. What I learned was interesting.

The burnt snow smelled like burning plastic. The last snowball I burned that year didn't burn, it melted. It also had no smell. After doing research on what caused snow to fall (and learning it's the same as rain) and what function it served (cleaning the air), I came to the conclusion that the first snowfall of that winter was dirtier than the last. That got me thinking.

Throughout the following three seasons, I collected rainwater periodically and studied it (smelled it, let it settle to see how much crap was in it, super simple shit that requires no special equipment). Early spring rainwater had less crap in it than late summer/early autumn rainwater.

It may be that the last snowball was already starting to melt which is why it readily melted when I tried burning it. That doesn't, however, cover the lack of soot.

If nothing else, I made peace with snow during that winter. I might try burning some snow over a piece of paper tomorrow, letting it dry and seeing if the liquid carries the soot away from the snowball (providing we got enough snow this year to clean the atmosphere enough).

Has anyone else tried this?

[anubisjd]

I'm sad that we needed this.

I've seen the "fake snow" videos, too.

[lawnmowerdude]

It’s sad when many people experience something they don’t expect don’t go “Wow that’s interesting. Why was my preconceived notions on how this would go different? Let’s find out why.”But instead think “Woah this isn’t going how I THINK it should work. I’m obviously right so this is clearly a conspiracy!”

[Soshula]

I was unaware of that trend but this makes a totally other snow-related natural phenomenon I experienced in the last couple days so much more clear to me thank you!

I’ve played disc golf throughout the winter for the first time this winter.

I’ve become pretty familiar with different types of snow in various stages of solidity/melting.

But I’m encountering a new(to me) thing now—

Large swaths of the courses that previously were snow have now become treacherous lumpy ice-rinks.

I’d never thought this deeply about the way that capillary action works with snow beginning to melt and refreeze at the tail end of winter when the temperature is going up and down close to freezing temperatures.

[Richard_H]

I felt smart for a second for thinking sublimation might be involved, and it's like you proved me wrong personally. Kudos

[tomservo]

never heard anyone call snow 'fake'

[moviemakerz]

Glad my reasoning was correct. I had always assumed the snow that does melt was being sucked up into the dry snow but i never tried to test it because I didn't really think to. Irregardless it's a really cool experiment and the fact the weight stays the same as it's melting until full saturation is also super cool.

[Karyonic]

So basically it’s just the melted water wicking up into the air gaps in the rest of the snowball, and the soot from the lighter itself

[DanielGBenesScienceShows]

I’m a science teacher who works with young kids, so I can say that it takes a tremendous amount of patience when it comes to correcting modern false information and misconceptions about how science works. Especially when someone with all the information in the world at their fingertips claims that snow is fake or doesn’t understand how sponges work or what hydrocarbon soot from burning fossil fuels is. This when people in the 1800’s lighting their homes with kerosene lamps fully understood those simple concepts and taught them to kids in one-room schoolhouses (considered “primitive” by today’s standards). I have children’s science books published in the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s in my collection that explain everything in this video. One of my oldest science books published in the 1890’s shows how kids can write their name with the soot from a candle flame. It really makes me sad. So I really appreciate simple, educational videos like this that can at least help nudge some of our species back on track.

PS- If you had completely melted that sooty snowball and allowed it to evaporate, the carbon soot would still be there left on the pan.

Interesting fact: Both Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Alva Edison went around collecting this soot, also called “lamp black”, from people’s oil lamps for use in various electrical experiments. The invention of the telephone was made possible by compressing this lamp black soot into a small button that acted as a voice microphone diaphragm resistor. This was in the late 1800’s. You can find find acrylic paint at hobby shops called “Lamp Black”. It’s a deep black color and got it’s name from lamp soot. ❤

[anthonyspinozzi]

whenever I feel stupid I remember there are people out there who think snow is fake

[souffle]

As someone who lives in tropical area and *never* see any snow IRL, when they try to burn the snow with candle and it's start to blacken, even I *intuitively* know that the soot is condensing on the cooler surface.

istg some people doesn't deserve their high school diploma…

[bitcoinweasel]

Definitely shows the importance of designing tests that try to disprove your hypothesis, not just ones that might make you think it's correct.

[LMacNeill]

I've lived in the South my entire life, and although we've occasionally had snow here, it's never really been enough, or lasted long enough, for me to take a snowball and try to melt it with a lighter like that. I was honestly surprised **not** to see water dripping down while the snowball was above the flame like that. How cool that the snowball "absorbs" its own meltwater like a sponge as it melts. Had no idea that was even possible!

[DarkFrozenDepths]

The fact that this video even had to be done is more amazing...

Cause apparently enough people either skipped school or never seen snow in their life to try and call it fake...

[Knight_Astolfo]

I first saw those claims around the crazy ice storm from a couple years back
People kept saying "government snow" and it's just like - this is why no one takes real conspiracies seriously.

[anniesama]

I've lived in snowy places my whole life but never thought of what would happen if you held a flame to a snowball until now. You've broadened my horizons.