How cold for spit to freeze?

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2006-02-17 01:11pm

I've heard -40F, -50F, some people think it happens at -8F. How cold does it have to be for spit to freeze before it hits the ground (putting aside discussions of spit velocity).

SCRawl · Post by **SCRawl** » 2006-02-17 01:13pm

CaptainChewbacca wrote:I've heard -40F, -50F, some people think it happens at -8F. How cold does it have to be for spit to freeze before it hits the ground (putting aside discussions of spit velocity).

I'm pretty sure it'll never happen, at least under normal weather conditions on earth.

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2006-02-17 01:19pm

Never seen it happen, and I have been out in -30C

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2006-02-17 01:19pm

At any temperature cold enough to freeze a wad of spit in the 1-2 seconds it takes to hit the ground, a human being would be rendered unable to spit.

kheegster · Post by **kheegster** » 2006-02-17 05:57pm

I've seen a documentary about a research outpost in Antartica, where they demonstrated throwing boiling water outdoors, and it froze before it hit the ground.

I've also met a Japanese guy from Sapporo who claimed that if you sneeze in winter in Hokkaido, the snot will freeze to your nose.

wolveraptor · Post by **wolveraptor** » 2006-02-17 05:59pm

kheegan wrote:I've seen a documentary about a research outpost in Antartica, where they demonstrated throwing boiling water outdoors, and it froze before it hit the ground.

Was it at night?

kheegan wrote:I've also met a Japanese guy from Sapporo who claimed that if you sneeze in winter in Hokkaido, the snot will freeze to your nose.

I call bullshit, or at least exaggeration. If it were that cold, I assume your nose would succumb to frost bite within minutes, as would your extremities. No one would be out at such a time.

LongVin · Post by **LongVin** » 2006-02-17 06:10pm

At Stalingrad in 42 wasn't it cold enough for the urine to freeze as the soldiers were trying to go to the relieve themselves? Would that be cold enough for spit to freeze?

tharkûn · Post by **tharkûn** » 2006-02-17 06:19pm

Was it at night?

This is antartica, "night" is many days long.

At any temperature cold enough to freeze a wad of spit in the 1-2 seconds it takes to hit the ground, a human being would be rendered unable to spit.

I know people who have claimed to have done it. Allegedly one coats the lips with jelly and has no other exposed skin. Spit on an upward trajectory and close you mouth quickly. They could just be pulling my leg, but they did do a winter in Antartica.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-02-17 06:28pm

So it works in utterly contrived scenarios? I hardly think that's appropriate. I can blow a load over a house in a contrived scenario: I don't quote that as a repeatable feat.

wolveraptor · Post by **wolveraptor** » 2006-02-17 07:53pm

This is antartica, "night" is many days long.

What's your point? It's still colder and therefore more feasible.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2006-02-17 08:00pm

wolveraptor wrote:
kheegan wrote:I've seen a documentary about a research outpost in Antartica, where they demonstrated throwing boiling water outdoors, and it froze before it hit the ground.
Was it at night?

I think I saw the same doco, or at least a guy doing a similar thing.

It was a bright sunny day.

SCRawl · Post by **SCRawl** » 2006-02-17 08:06pm

Gandalf wrote:
wolveraptor wrote:
kheegan wrote:I've seen a documentary about a research outpost in Antartica, where they demonstrated throwing boiling water outdoors, and it froze before it hit the ground.
Was it at night?
I think I saw the same doco, or at least a guy doing a similar thing.

It was a bright sunny day.

This is actually more feasible than freezing spit. Boiling water will freeze faster (thanks to lots of evapouration) than room temperature water, though the volume of ice will of course be much lower. I assume that it can be flung pretty high in the air, giving it more time to freeze, and it will tend to separate into smaller drops, increasing the overall surface area. Spit tends to stay in a single loogie.

I still can't believe the spit thing. When I was still a physics student and had a functioning brain, I could have calculated it, making a few assumptions about things like the heat capacity of spittle.

J · Post by J » 2006-02-17 08:37pm

Whatever the temperature may be, it's certainly lower than -44°C. I was in Manitoba a while back during a cold snap where the temperatures were down below -40 for a good while. My spit never froze before hitting the ground.

Ariphaos · Post by **Ariphaos** » 2006-02-17 09:43pm

It got around 60 below here in Minnesota one year and a lot of kids, myself included, had fun doing things like pouring water and watching it freeze before it touched the ground. I do know we did a lot of spitting with only mild success, it tended to audibly crack because it froze the instant it hit the ground, which might make some people think it froze before hitting the ground.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2006-02-17 09:47pm

My dad tells stories about hunting in northern Pennsylvania in the winter of 1976, when he and his buddies would piss on trees and it would freeze before it ran all the way to the ground. Not quite the same thing, though.

As for boiling water freezing in midair, I've actually seen that, at least on television. It was in Minnesota, not someplace ridiculous like Antarctica.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2006-02-18 01:22pm

kheegan wrote:I've seen a documentary about a research outpost in Antartica, where they demonstrated throwing boiling water outdoors, and it froze before it hit the ground.

I’ve seen that demonstrated in many American cities by reporters during cold spells in winter. So that hardly requires exceptionally low temperatures

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How cold for spit to freeze?

How cold for spit to freeze?

Re: How cold for spit to freeze?