Freezing of water drops on a cold surface

Abstract A drop of water falling gently on to a cold copper surface freezes to it, forming a curious minaret-shaped pellet of ice. The shear tractive force necessary then to remove the ice pellet depends on the initial temperature of the metal: it is a maximum at −22°C and falls to zero at −62°C. At...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Glaciology
Main Authors: Walford, M. E. R., Hargreaves, D. M., Stuart-Smith, S., Lowson, M.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1991
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000042787
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000042787
Description
Summary:Abstract A drop of water falling gently on to a cold copper surface freezes to it, forming a curious minaret-shaped pellet of ice. The shear tractive force necessary then to remove the ice pellet depends on the initial temperature of the metal: it is a maximum at −22°C and falls to zero at −62°C. At impact velocities greater than approximately 0.8 ms −1 , depending on the metal temperature, the droplets of water freeze to form irregular pancakes or discs of ice which adhere to the metal weakly if at all.