Frozen Breath

February 12, 2004

Isros06033

Provided and copyright by: Thomas Holmgren
Summary authors & editors: Jim Foster; Thomas Holmgren

If you breathe on a cold window, you can sometimes see the moisture freeze before your eyes, often forming shapes similar to snowflakes. These breath crystals are frozen directly from the air, forming the delicate leaves shown above, some of which are as long as 5 cm (2 in). To see breath crystals like these, the air temperature needs to be below about 14 F (-10 C).

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