If water is H2O (l) is snow just H2O (s)?
Just wondering, because I got into an argument with someone about weather water and snow are, basically, the same thing.
Cheers.
DS

Isn't H2O (s) ice? Well I don't know. I guess it's the same but maybe the crystal structure makes it different?

I thought ice was when a lot of water had frozen, and when it was just a drop or water vapour it was snow.

Snow is basically an ice crystal. However, the condensation nucleus is not made of water---it's a little particle of dust or whatever that the water collects around, and it most assuredly contributes to the composition of snow.

Of course, all of this is completely dependent on whether you are refering to the white or yellow forms of snow. :D

Don't eat the yellow snow!
:D

The form the water takes doesn't affect its chemical composition! The molecules are still made up of the same number and type of atoms, it's just that they collect into structures in different ways, depending on many factors including temperature.

Hmm...
the question still remains...
Was I right?

Short answer: Yes

Long Answer : The main consituent of both rain and snow is H20, but there is also a solid contaminant which causes the original ice crystal to form in the first place, plus the usual crap picked up from the atmosphere.

And to add to that, the chances of you finding pure H<tt>2</tt>O outside a lab are very slim indeed. There's more in there. In the case of yellow snow, much more... and not all salts and minerals either.

Legolas - you mean finding large structures formed purely of H20. There is a very big chance of finding H20 molecules, since the hydrogen atoms give up their spare electron to fill the oxygen's outer shell.

[ 02-28-2005, 12:08 PM: Message edited by: Vaskez ]

Ice is H20(s). Water is H20(l). The end.

Very clever Dadams, if only they were talking about ice and not snow [img]tongue.gif[/img]

They are all H^20, just with different structure. Their composition is the same. Think of it like jelly, its always jelly, whether solid or liquid or an ambiguos state between.

Water is U2ater

Snow is ice. It's frozen, crystallized H20. That's ice; just with different physical properties.

Vazkey, the whole point of impurities is that they are surrounded by much more of the main substance. Stop pointing out the obvious, you're too subtle for that [img]tongue.gif[/img]

No, I'm a dumbass who everone thinks is an idiot. If you haven't joined the club yet, you're late [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Snow and ice are the same thing. What happens to the molecules when you bring energy into those (heat, microwaves, motion) they start to vibrate. The more you bring in energy the more they vibrate.

Think ice as a group of people who are hugging all each others. Then they all start to jump more and more rapidly. To jump faster, at some point they have to let loose each others -> ice melts. If you keep on putting on energy they need more and more space -> boiling.

Surprisingöy thought water has it´s highest density when in 4 celcius-> ice needs more space than water. It´s the only known liquid to act that way.

A great example of water swelling while they freeze is an exploded beer bottle in my friends car. He has kept his whole car frozen now for few days cause he´s too lazy to clean it up, but still he doesn´t want the beer to melt all over his car.

The lesson of the whole story is taht not all yellow snow is bad. Some of it MAY be beer. So next time you pass a suspicious looking spot, go on and try it. Just see first that there aren´t any dogs sniffing around it =D

[ 03-02-2005, 12:31 PM: Message edited by: Jani ]