This is an example of supercooling – the process by which a very pure liquid is chilled to a temperature just below its usual freezing point without actually making the jump to its solid state. Bottled water is perfect for this, especially the kind that’s been purified via reverse osmosis, a process that strips water of all its particulates. This particulates can act as “seed crystals,” or “nuclei,” to which a liquid phase on the cusp of becoming solid can attach, and crystalize around. In this video, a seed crystal is introduced in the form of a cube of already-frozen water. As soon as it’s introduced, the liquid phase rapidly crystallizes and attaches to the solid one, kicking off a chain reaction of ice-formation.Water that freezes as it’s being poured out of the bottle also solidifies upon exposure to a seed crystal, which, in this case, is an already-frozen surface. This is similar to the effect observed when freezing rain, supercooled by its flightpath through sub-freezing layers of atmosphere, comes into contact with an object cooled to a temperature below freezing. The result is a phenomenon known as glaze-ice, which – if you live somewhere cold – you may have seen before, coating the spindly extremities of tree branches.
Exploring Japan’s Modern Ruins with @neji_maki_dori
For more photos from abandoned sites around Japan, be sure to follow @neji_maki_dori on Instagram.
Tokyo-based Instagrammer @neji_maki_dori has been exploring abandoned buildings in Japan ever since his first visit to the ruins of a sulfer mine in 2006. “The overwhelming scale, inorganic and deserted feel, moldy smell and excitement were all very refreshing and inspiring to me at the time,” he says. “I’ve been captivated by ruins ever since.”
@neji_maki_dori sources locations from printed materials about abandoned sites and the collective knowledge base of his fellow explorers. From mines and towers to apartment blocks and even a larger-than-life building in the shape of a cow, his adventures take his followers through some of Japan’s most forgotten places.
Atop the Desert Fortress of Masada (מצדה)
Want to view more photos from Masada? Visit the Masada (מצדה) location page, and be sure to check out the view from the top.
In the Israeli desert overlooking the Dead Sea sits Masada, an ancient ruined city atop a tall plateau. More than 2,000 years old, the settlement’s significant fortifications were erected between 37 and 31 BCE by King Herod, who also built a palace in the city.
In 72 CE, Jewish rebels that had taken control of the city several years prior came under siege by the Roman army. Over the course of a year the Romans bombarded Masada while building a ramp up the side of the plateau, eventually overcoming the city’s defenses.
The ramp and the army’s fortifications remain to this day, and tourists can either walk up the narrow snaking foot path or take a gondola to the top. Explore more photos by visiting the Masada location page.
Instagrammers Document Flooding throughout Europe
Countries throughout Western and Central Europe, particularly Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic, have experienced historic flooding over the last couple weeks, breeching levees and displacing tens of thousands along the Danube and Elbe rivers.
The flooding, the worst to hit Europe since 2002, has also claimed more than a dozen lives.
People throughout the region—both those impacted and those volunteering with relief efforts—have been sharing their experience through Instagram. View more photos by searching the hashtags #flood, #Flut (German) and #povodeň (Czech).
Weekend Hashtag Project: #WHPaquarium
Weekend Hashtag Project is a series featuring designated themes & hashtags chosen by Instagram’s Community Team. For a chance to be featured on the Instagram blog, follow @instagram and look for a photo announcing the weekend’s project every Friday.
This weekend’s tag was #WHPaquarium, which asked participants to capture photos of their favorite underwater creatures. Every Monday we feature some of our favorite submissions from the project, but be sure to check out the rest here.
A matchstick that can stay on fire underwater!! (It looks like it goes out and then lights again when it is brought out, but it is still on fire under water it’s just you can’t see it.)
I’m not quite sure how they do it, but my guess would be that the match stick is made up of some chemical which releases oxygen, allowing it to keep burning underwater. aswell as having some sort of insulating material to keep its heat.
Gunpowder does the same, incase you’re watching a movie and they fire a gun in outer space and someone says “that’s so unrealistic there’s no oxygen in outerspace” just tell them they’re wrong. Gun’s can fire in a vacuum because the gunpowder itself has oxygen in it.
Officially known as Storm Matches or sometimes Lifeboat Matches.
