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Icicles in Sunlight - Up Close Photo

Posted by Jay Fuhrman,
North Country explorer from Farmington, Connecticut
February 26, 2014

Icicles in Sunlight
taken March 26th on the way up Azure Mountain in Waverly, NY

Here we see water slowly going from its solid state into a liquid state. They are hanging off a birch tree with a fungal growth in the corner. I really like the angle of this picture because you can tell that the sun is shining brightly just behind the imposing birch shooting across the top. The details of the cracked tree bark are clearly visible as well as the shape of the icicles like stalactites. Also, there are two icicles in the center that create somewhat of an illusion; one of them ends just to the side where another begins but it looks as if the bottom half of one icicle just shifted a bit to the side. The hydrogen bonds are a key characteristic of water that arises from the structure of a water molecule. It allows ice to increase in volume when freezing which is unique to that molecule, as most substances decrease in size in accordance with lower temperature.