Abstract
MAY I ask for space to make a suggestion as to the possible cause of the banded structure of hailstones recently observed and recorded in NATURE, vol. xxxv. p. 438? It seems to me that the phenomenon may perhaps be explained by devitrification of the ice. We are familiar with a considerable number of bodies which assume the vitreous state by rapid solidification from the liquid state; and it seems reasonable to suppose that in the conditions under which hail is formed the ice may assume at first the vitreous state, the higher molecular structure of perfectly crystalline ice requiring more time for its full development (see paper by the writer read before Section C of the British Association last year at Birmingham). If such were the case (and the hypothesis is supported by the statement of Mr. C. S. Middlemiss in NATURE, vol. xxxv. p. 413), the observed structure (which can be actually seen to develop itself in some vitreous substances under the microscope, as a preliminary to the assumption of the full crystalline and opaque condition) would simply mark an early stage of the devitrification of the ice-glass. To bring this theory to the test of experiment it would only be necessary to observe closely the effect of keeping such hailstones for some time at a temperature rather below 0° C.
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IRVING, A. Remarkable Hailstones. Nature 36, 77 (1887). https://doi.org/10.1038/036077c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/036077c0
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