Window Glass Frost Crystals
April 23, 2011
Photographer: Joe Bauman
Summary Author: Joe Bauman
The photo above showing the mysterious beauty of frost on a window was taken on a bitter cold mid-winter morning in Salt Lake City, Utah. When sunlight strikes parts of the frost formations the stunning result is a peculiar, three-dimensional world on the flat surface of window glass. Window frost forms when the temperature outside is below freezing while the inside air is relatively warm and moist. Water vapor crystallizes onto the surface of a cold window and lays down dendrites of translucent ice, which grow and overlap if sufficient vapor is available. At places, frost can pile up thickly; long dendrites may sprawl and join elsewhere on the glass. Frost dendrites are similar in shape to mineral dendrites that result, for instance, from manganese trickling through rock layers and then solidifying. Both are fractal-like, with tiny sprigs contributing to larger sprays. Photo taken on February 2, 2011. Compare with the window frost photo in this EPOD.
Photo details: Camera Maker: NIKON CORPORATION; Camera Model: NIKON D70; Focal Length: 70mm (35mm equivalent: 105mm); stack of three close-up lenses; Aperture: f/10.0; Exposure Time: 0.017 s (1/60); Exposure Bias: -3.33 EV; Metering Mode: Matrix; Exposure: Manual; Exposure Mode: Manual; White Balance: Auto; Flash Fired: No;Orientation: Normal; Color Space: sRGB. The field of view is about an inch and a half across.