2006-10-28 12:23:04 · 7 answers · asked by motangynia 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
It does collect into blocks of ice....GIANT blocks of ice. They are called glaciers.
2006-10-28 12:30:49 · answer #1 · answered by The Man In The Box 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If a light shower of snow falls on the ice then it actually melts into the ice then immediately freezes thickening the block but in a heavier shower it begins to build up because it starts hitting snow that hasn't had time to melt. Then pressure from snow above turns the lower layers into ice. Most of the Antartic snow is ice underneath. And in both there is a layer of ice between snow and land!
And that is also how glaciers form.
I'm sure someone could give a more scientific explanation
2006-10-28 19:51:24 · answer #2 · answered by willowGSD 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It does, for example, over Greenland, the Arctic and Antarctic. Its hundreds of metres thick. Scientists drill holes into it to extract core samples and work out what the atmosphere was like thousands or millions of years ago - from trapped air/gases, water, dust & meteorites. There used to be an ice sheet over much of the uk, stretching as far south as bristol (roughly) and a kilometer thick. That receded about 12,000 years ago.
There may have been 6 or more of these ice transgressions in the last 2 million years.
2006-10-28 19:33:09 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
snow is ice...it is basically frozen rain.
It's less dense than normal rain though, so unless it's tightly compacted together it doesn't lump together into blocks.
If you were to take a heavy rainstorm's amout of rain and have it fall as snow, the effects would be more obvious.
As water, everything would just get wet. As snow, you might end up with several inches (or feet) of the stuff.
That's why it's not very often we end up with 6 inches of rain outside...but more than plausible that we might get that much snow in a day.
Why does it form into flakes? Well, it's due to the water vapour condensing ...as it normally does when rain is formed, but instead of falling as droplets, it get's frozen mid process by cold temperatures up in the atmosphere...and floats down in a very pretty way...unless it's hail...which can hurt! :)
2006-10-28 22:25:33 · answer #4 · answered by blackeyedkat05 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Not heavy enough and with strong enough bonds to join together. Thats when u squish it enough...its ice.
2006-10-28 19:53:52 · answer #5 · answered by Joe W. 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because if it did it would not be called snow, doh
2006-10-28 19:42:30 · answer #6 · answered by Lewisthelab 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Because it is coated with teflon
2006-10-28 19:25:57 · answer #7 · answered by chunkymonkey 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋