Where does hail come from? What is a city? Causes of ice precipitation (photo) Hail description of a natural phenomenon.

09.10.2019 18:42 448

When it rains, water droplets fall on the ground. But sometimes small pieces of ice fall from the sky instead. They are called hailstones, and the natural phenomenon itself is hail. Hail falls from the sky during a heavy downpour or thunderstorm. The size of the hailstones most often reaches several millimeters. However, there are times when hailstones the size of a pigeon's egg or even a tennis ball fall from the sky! In their form, hailstones are most often spherical or in the form of pyramids and cones. However, there were cases when people observed hailstones in the form of plates, polygons, and even a flower surrounded by petals!

Do you guys know where hail comes from?

Hail forms in cumulonimbus clouds. They contain a large number of precipitation evaporated from the earth's surface in warm weather. In addition to moisture, particles of dust and salt rise into the air. At a certain height, where the temperature drops below 0 degrees, water drops freeze. They turn into small pieces of ice, which are called hailstones. Dust particles become the center or core of these hailstones because water, when frozen, surrounds them from all sides. The hailstones can grow in size due to the adhesion of other, similarly frozen drops that they encounter.

Inside cumulonimbus clouds there are updrafts of air. Hail formation depends on their speed. If the flow rate is low, then the hailstones do not rise further, but fall to the ground. At the same time, they melt and turn into ordinary rain.

If the speed of the air currents is high, then it raises the hailstones even higher, to the top of the cloud. There they are covered with a new layer of ice, increasing in size and mass. At some point, the air stream cannot hold the heavier hailstones, and they fall to the ground.

Despite the fact that this natural phenomenon is not as dangerous in its consequences as a hurricane or tsunami, it still causes a lot of trouble for people. Agriculture is the first to suffer from hail. Large hailstones can destroy entire crops, damage cars or houses.

Since ancient times, people have struggled with the formation of hail. When he appeared, they rang bells and fired cannons. It has been observed that a loud sound prevents the appearance of hail. Nowadays, cumulonimbus clouds are bombarded with shells and rockets, which contain a special reagent that prevents the formation of hail.

Despite the fact that most often hailstones fall on the ground small size, it’s better to hide from them under the nearest shed or room anyway, and wait out this natural phenomenon in safety.

What is hail and how is it formed?

Very common during the summer unusual view precipitation in the form of small and sometimes large ice floes. Their shape can be different: from small grains to large hailstones the size of a chicken egg. Such hail can cause catastrophic consequences - damage to property and health, as well as damage agriculture. But where and how does hail form? There is a scientific explanation for this.

Hail is formed by strong updrafts of air within a large cumulus cloud. This kind precipitation consists of pieces of ice of different sizes. The hailstone structure can consist of several alternating layers of ice - transparent and translucent.

How ice floes are formed

Hail formation is a complex atmospheric process based on the water cycle in nature. Warm air, which contains moisture vapor, rises up on a hot summer day. As altitude increases, these vapors cool and water condenses to form a cloud. It, in turn, becomes a source of rain.

But it also happens that it is too hot during the day, and the ascending air flow is so strong that water drops rise to a very high height, bypassing the zero isotherm region, and become supercooled. In this state, drops can occur even at a temperature of -400C at an altitude of more than 8 kilometers. Supercooled droplets collide in the air flow with the smallest particles of sand, combustion products, bacteria and dust, which become centers of moisture crystallization. This is how an ice floe is born - more and more droplets of moisture stick to these small particles and at isothermal temperature turn into a real hail. The structure of the hailstone can tell the story of its origin through layers and peculiar rings. Their number indicates how many times the hailstone rose into the upper atmosphere and descended back into the cloud.

The speed of updrafts inside cumulus clouds can vary from 80 to 300 km/h. Therefore, newly formed ice floes can also constantly move at high speed along with air currents. And the greater the speed of their movement, the greater the size of the hailstones. Passing repeatedly through the layers of the atmosphere, where the temperature changes, at first small hailstones are overgrown with new layers of water and dust, sometimes forming hailstones of impressive size - 8-10 cm in diameter and weighing up to 500 grams.

One raindrop is formed from about a million supercooled water particles. Hailstones larger than 50 mm in diameter usually form in cellular cumulus clouds where super-powerful updrafts of air are observed. A thunderstorm involving such rain clouds can generate intense wind squalls, heavy downpours and tornadoes.

I'm always surprised when hail comes. How is it that on a hot summer day during a thunderstorm, peas of ice fall to the ground? In this story, I will tell you why the hail is coming.

It turns out that hail is formed when raindrops cool down, passing through the cold layers of the atmosphere .. Single drops turn into tiny hailstones, but then amazing transformations occur with them! Falling down, such a hailstone collides with an oncoming air flow from the ground. Then she goes up again. Unfrozen raindrops stick to it and it sinks again. A hailstone can make a lot of such movements from bottom to top and back, and its size will increase. But there comes a moment when it becomes so heavy that the ascending air currents are no longer able to support it in weight. That's when the moment comes when the hailstone rapidly rushes to the ground.

A large hailstone, cut in half, is like an onion: it consists of several layers of ice. Sometimes hailstones resemble a layer cake, where ice and snow alternate. And there is an explanation for this - from such layers it is possible to calculate how many times a piece of ice traveled from rain clouds to supercooled layers of the atmosphere.

Besides, hailstones can take the form of a ball, cone, ellipse, look like an apple. Their speed to the ground can reach 160 kilometers per hour, so they are compared with a small projectile. Indeed, hail can destroy crops and vineyards, break glass and even break through the metal lining of a car! The damage caused by hail on the entire planet is estimated at a billion dollars a year!

But everything, of course, depends on the size of the hailstones. So in 1961 in India, a hailstone weighing 3 kilograms killed on the spot ... an elephant! In 1981, seven kilograms of hailstones fell during a thunderstorm in Guangdong Province, China. Five people were killed and about ten thousand buildings were destroyed. But most people - 92 people - died due to kilogram hailstones in 1882 in Bangladesh.

Today people learn to deal with hail. A special substance (called a reagent) is introduced into the cloud with the help of rockets or projectiles. As a result, hailstones are smaller and have time to completely or to a large extent melt in warm layers of air before falling to the ground.

This is interesting:

Even in ancient times, people noticed that a loud sound prevents hail or causes smaller hailstones to appear. Therefore, to save the crops, bells were rung or cannons were fired.

If hail has caught you indoors, then stay as far away from windows as possible and do not leave the house.

If the hail caught you on the street, then try to find shelter. If you run far to it, be sure to protect your head from hailstones.

Summer weather is changeable. Black clouds suddenly appear in the sky, which are the harbingers of rain. But contrary to our expectation, instead of raindrops, pieces of ice begin to fall on the ground. And this despite the fact that the weather is quite hot and stuffy outside. Where do they come from?

Firstly, this natural phenomenon is called hail. It is quite rare, and occurs only under certain conditions. As a rule, hail falls once or twice during the summer. The hailstones themselves are pieces of ice, ranging in size from a few millimeters to several centimeters. Larger hailstones are extremely rare and are likely to be an exception to general rules. As a rule, their size is no larger than a pigeon's egg. But even such a hail is very dangerous, as it can damage grain crops and cause significant damage to vegetable growers' plantations.

As for the shape of the hailstones, they can be completely different: a ball, a cone, an ellipse, a crystal. Inside them may be pieces of dust, sand or ash. In this case, their size and weight can increase significantly, sometimes up to one kilogram.

In order for hail to occur, two conditions are necessary - a low temperature of the upper layers of the atmosphere, and powerful ascending air currents. What happens in this case? The water droplets in the cloud freeze and turn into pieces of ice. Under the influence of gravity, they would have to sink into the lower, warmer layers of the atmosphere, melt, and rain down on the earth. But due to strong ascending air currents, this does not happen. The pieces of ice are picked up, move chaotically, collide, and freeze with each other. Every hour there are more and more of them. As the size increases, so does their weight. In the end, there comes a moment when their gravity begins to exceed the force of ascending air currents, which leads to the appearance of hail. Sometimes hail is mixed with rain, and is also accompanied by thunder and lightning.

If you look at the structure of a hailstone, it is incredibly similar to an onion. The only difference is that it consists of numerous layers of ice. In fact, this is the same Napoleon cake, only instead of cream and cake layers, it contains layers of snow and ice. By the number of such layers, one can determine how many times the hailstone was picked up by the air flow and returned to the upper layers of the atmosphere.

Why is hail dangerous?

Hailstones fall to the ground at a speed of 160 km/h. If such an ice floe hits a person on the head, then he can be seriously injured. Hail can damage a car, shatter window glass, and cause irreparable damage to plants.

Hail can be successfully dealt with. To do this, a projectile is fired into the cloud, which contains an aerosol that has the ability to reduce the size of ice floes. As a result, instead of hail, ordinary rain falls on the ground.

Collection output:

On the mechanism of hail formation

Ismailov Sohrab Ahmedovich

dr. chem. Sciences, Senior Researcher, Institute of Petrochemical Processes of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Azerbaijan,

Republic of Azerbaijan, Baku

ABOUT THE MECHANISM OF THE HAIL FORMATION

Ismailov Sokhrab

Doctor of Chemical Sciences, Senior Researcher, Institute of Petrochemical Processes, Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Baku

ANNOTATION

A new hypothesis about the mechanism of hail formation in atmospheric conditions has been put forward. It is assumed that, in contrast to the known previous theories, the formation of hail in the atmosphere is due to the generation high temperature during a lightning strike. Rapid evaporation of water along the discharge channel and around it leads to its abrupt freezing with the appearance of hail of various sizes. For the formation of hail, the transition of the zero isotherm is not necessary, it is also formed in the lower warm layer of the troposphere. Thunderstorm is accompanied by hail. Hail falls only during heavy thunderstorms.

ABSTRACT

Put forward a new hypothesis about the mechanism of formation of hail in the atmosphere. Assuming it "s in contrast to the known previous theories, hail formation in the atmosphere due to the generation of heat lightning. Abrupt volatilization water discharge channel and around its freezing leads to a sharp appearance with its hail different sizes. For education is not mandatory hail the transition of the zero isotherm, it is formed in the lower troposphere warm.

Keywords: hailstone; zero temperature; evaporation; cold snap; lightning; storm.

keywords: hailstone; zero temperature; evaporation; cold; lightning; storm.

Man often encounters terrible natural phenomena and tirelessly fights against them. Natural disasters and consequences of catastrophic natural phenomena (earthquakes, landslides, lightning, tsunamis, floods, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes, hurricanes, hail) attracted the attention of scientists around the world. It is no coincidence that a special commission on accounting for natural disasters - UNDRO - was created under UNESCO. (United Nations Disaster Relief Organization - Disaster Relief Organization by the United Nations). Having recognized the necessity of the objective world and acting in accordance with it, a person subjugates the forces of nature, makes them serve his goals and turns from a slave of nature into a master of nature and ceases to be powerless before nature, becomes free. One such terrible disaster is hail.

At the site of the fall, hail, first of all, destroys cultivated agricultural plants, kills livestock, as well as the person himself. The fact is that a sudden and with a large influx of hail attacks excludes protection from it. Sometimes, in a matter of minutes, the surface of the earth is covered with hail 5-7 cm thick. In the Kislovodsk region in 1965, hail fell, covering the earth with a layer of 75 cm. Usually hail covers 10-100 km distances. Let's remember some terrible events from the past.

In 1593, in one of the provinces of France, due to a raging wind and sparkling lightning, hail fell with a huge weight of 18-20 pounds! As a result of this, great damage was done to crops and many churches, castles, houses and other structures were destroyed. The people themselves became victims of this terrible event. (Here it must be taken into account that in those days the pound as a unit of weight had several meanings). It was terrible disaster, one of the most catastrophic hailstorms to hit France. In the eastern part of the state of Colorado (USA), about six hailstorms occur annually, each of them brings huge losses. Hailstorms most often occur in the North Caucasus, in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, in mountainous areas Central Asia. From June 9 to 10, 1939, hail the size of a chicken egg fell in the city of Nalchik, accompanied by heavy rain. As a result, more than 60 thousand hectares were destroyed. wheat and about 4 thousand hectares of other crops; about 2,000 sheep were killed.

When it comes to hailstones, first of all, note its size. The hailstones usually vary in size. Meteorologists and other researchers pay attention to the largest. It is curious to learn about absolutely fantastic hailstones. In India and China, ice blocks weighing 2-3 kg. They even say that in 1961 in North India a heavy hailstone killed the elephant. On April 14, 1984, hailstones weighing 1 kg fell in the small town of Gopalganj in the Republic of Bangladesh. , which led to the death of 92 people and several dozen elephants. This hail is even listed in the Guinness Book of Records. In 1988, 250 people were victims of hail damage in Bangladesh. And in 1939, a hailstone with a weight of 3.5 kg. More recently (05/20/2014) in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, hailstones of such a large dimension fell that they were removed from the streets by heavy equipment.

All these data indicate that hail damage to human life has at least importance compared to other extraordinary natural phenomena. Judging by this, a comprehensive study and finding the cause of its formation with the involvement of modern physical and chemical methods of research, as well as the fight against this nightmarish phenomenon, are urgent tasks for humanity around the world.

What is the operating mechanism of hail formation?

I note in advance that there is still no correct and positive answer to this question.

Despite the creation of the first hypothesis on this matter in the first half of the 17th century by Descartes, however scientific theory hail processes and methods of influencing them were developed by physicists and meteorologists only in the middle of the last century. It should be noted that back in the Middle Ages and in the first half of the 19th century, several assumptions were put forward by various researchers, such as Bussengo, Shvedov, Klossovsky, Volta, Reye, Ferrel, Hahn, Faraday, Soncke, Reynold, and others. Unfortunately, their theories did not receive confirmation. It should be noted that the latest views on this issue are not scientifically substantiated, and there are still no exhaustive ideas about the mechanism of city formation. The presence of numerous experimental data and the totality of literature on this topic made it possible to suggest the following hail formation mechanism, which was recognized by the World Meteorological Organization and continues to operate to this day. (so that there are no disagreements, we give out these arguments verbatim).

"Rising from earth's surface on a hot summer day, warm air cools with height, and the moisture it contains condenses to form a cloud. Supercooled drops in the clouds are found even at a temperature of -40 ° C (altitude about 8-10 km). But these drops are very unstable. Raised from the earth's surface, the smallest particles of sand, salt, combustion products and even bacteria, when colliding with supercooled drops, upset the delicate balance. Supercooled droplets that come into contact with solid particles turn into an ice hailstone embryo.

Small hailstones exist in the upper half of almost every cumulonimbus cloud, but most often such hailstones melt as they approach the earth's surface. So, if the speed of ascending flows in a cumulonimbus cloud reaches 40 km / h, then they are unable to keep the emerging hailstones, therefore, passing through a warm layer of air at a height of 2.4 to 3.6 km, they fall out of the cloud into in the form of small “soft” hail or even in the form of rain. Otherwise, ascending air currents raise small hailstones to layers of air with a temperature of -10 °C to -40 °C (height between 3 and 9 km), the diameter of the hailstones begins to grow, sometimes reaching several centimeters. It is worth noting that in exceptional cases, the speed of updrafts and downdrafts in the cloud can reach 300 km/h! And the higher the speed of updrafts in a cumulonimbus cloud, the larger the hail.

A golf ball-sized hailstone would require over 10 billion supercooled water droplets to form, and the hailstone itself would have to stay in the cloud for at least 5-10 minutes to reach such a large size. It should be noted that the formation of one drop of rain requires about a million of these small supercooled drops. Hailstones larger than 5 cm in diameter are found in supercellular cumulonimbus clouds, in which very powerful updrafts are observed. It is supercell thunderstorms that give rise to tornadoes, heavy downpours and intense squalls.

Hail usually falls during heavy thunderstorms in the warm season, when the temperature at the Earth's surface is not lower than 20 ° C.

It must be emphasized that back in the middle of the last century, or rather, in 1962, F. Ladlem also proposed a similar theory, which provides for the condition for the formation of a hailstone. He also considers the process of hailstone formation in the supercooled part of the cloud from small water droplets and ice crystals by coagulation. Last operation should occur with a strong rise and fall of hailstones of several kilometers, passing the zero isotherm. According to the types and sizes of hailstones, modern scientists also say that hailstones during their “life” are repeatedly carried up and down by strong convection currents. As a result of collision with supercooled drops, hailstones grow in size.

The World Meteorological Organization defined hail in 1956. : Hail - precipitation in the form of spherical particles or pieces of ice (hailstones) with a diameter of 5 to 50 mm, sometimes more, falling out in isolation or in the form of irregular complexes. The hailstones consist only of clear ice or a series of its layers with a thickness of at least 1 mm, alternating with translucent layers. Hail usually occurs during heavy thunderstorms. .

Almost all former and modern sources on this issue indicate that hail is formed in a powerful cumulus cloud with strong ascending air currents. It's right. Unfortunately, lightning and thunderstorms are completely forgotten. And the subsequent interpretation of the hailstone formation, in our opinion, is illogical and hard to imagine.

Professor Klossovsky carefully studied appearances hailstones and found that, in addition to the spherical shape, they have a number of other geometric forms of existence. These data point to the formation of hailstones in the troposphere by a different mechanism.

After familiarizing ourselves with all these theoretical views, several intriguing questions attracted our attention:

1. The composition of a cloud located in the upper part of the troposphere, where the temperature reaches approximately -40 about C, already contains a mixture of supercooled water droplets, ice crystals and sand particles, salts, bacteria. Why is the fragile energy balance not disturbed?

2. According to the recognized modern general theory, a hailstone could have been born without a lightning or thunderstorm discharge. For the formation of hailstones with a large size, small ice floes must necessarily rise several kilometers up (at least 3-5 km) and fall down, passing the zero isotherm. Moreover, this should be repeated until a sufficient big size hailstone. In addition, the greater the speed of ascending flows in the cloud, the larger the hailstone should be (from 1 kg to several kg) and to enlarge it should remain in the air for 5-10 minutes. Interesting!

3. In general, it is difficult to imagine that such huge ice blocks with a weight of 2-3 kg will be concentrated in the upper layers of the atmosphere? It turns out that the hailstones were even larger in the cumulonimbus cloud than those observed on the ground, since part of it will melt when falling, passing through the warm layer of the troposphere.

4. Since meteorologists often confirm: “… hail usually falls during severe thunderstorms in the warm season, when the temperature at the Earth's surface is not lower than 20 ° C, however, do not indicate the cause of this phenomenon. Naturally, the question is, what is the effect of a thunderstorm?

Hail almost always falls before or at the same time as a downpour, and never after. It falls mostly during the summer and during the day. Hail at night is a very rare occurrence. The average duration of a hailstorm is from 5 to 20 minutes. Hail usually occurs in a place where a strong lightning discharge occurs, and is always associated with a thunderstorm. There is no hail without a thunderstorm! Therefore, the reason for the formation of hail must be sought in this. The main disadvantage of all existing hail formation mechanisms, in our opinion, is the non-recognition of the dominant role of the lightning discharge.

Studies of the distribution of hail and thunderstorms in Russia, produced by A.V. Klossovsky, confirm the existence of the closest connection between these two phenomena: hail, along with thunderstorms, usually occurs in the southeastern part of cyclones; it is more often where there are more thunderstorms. The north of Russia is poor in cases of hail, in other words, hail, the cause of which is due to the absence of a strong lightning discharge. What role does lightning play? There is no explanation.

Several attempts to find a connection between hail and thunderstorms were made as early as the middle of the 18th century. The chemist Guyton de Morvo, rejecting all existing ideas before him, proposed his theory: an electrified cloud conducts electricity better. And Nollet put forward the idea that water evaporates faster when it is electrified, and reasoned that this should increase the cold somewhat, and also suggested that steam can become a better conductor of heat if it is electrified. Guyton was criticized by Jean Andre Monge and wrote: it is true that electricity increases evaporation, but the electrified drops should repel each other, and not merge into large hailstones. The electrical theory of hail was proposed by another famous physicist, Alexander Volta. In his opinion, electricity was used not as the root cause of the cold, but to explain why the hailstones remain suspended so long that they have time to grow. The cold results from the very rapid evaporation of clouds, aided by powerful sunlight, thin dry air, the ease of evaporation of the bubbles from which clouds are made, and the supposed effect of electricity assisting the evaporation. But how do hailstones stay in the air for long enough? According to Volt, this cause can only be found in electricity. But how?

In any case, by the 20s of the XIX century. there has been a general belief that the combination of hail and lightning means only that both of these phenomena occur under the same weather conditions. This was the opinion of von Buch, clearly expressed in 1814, and in 1830 Denison Olmsted of Yale was emphatically asserting the same. From that time on, the theories of hail were mechanical and based more or less firmly on concepts of updrafts. According to Ferrel's theory, each hailstone can fall and rise several times. According to the number of layers in the hailstones, which sometimes can be up to 13, Ferrel judges the number of revolutions made by the hailstone. The circulation continues until the hailstones become very large. According to his calculation, an upward current at a speed of 20 m/s is able to support hail 1 cm in diameter, and this speed is still quite moderate for tornadoes.

There are a number of relatively new scientific research devoted to the mechanism of hail formation. In particular, they argue that the history of the formation of the city is reflected in its structure: a large hailstone, cut in half, is like an onion: it consists of several layers of ice. Sometimes hailstones resemble a layer cake, where ice and snow alternate. And there is an explanation for this - from such layers it is possible to calculate how many times a piece of ice traveled from rain clouds to supercooled layers of the atmosphere. It's hard to believe: hail weighing 1-2 kg can jump even higher up to a distance of 2-3 km? Layered ice (hailstones) can appear for various reasons. For example, the pressure difference environment will cause this phenomenon. And, in general, where does the snow? Is this snow?

In a recent website, Professor Egor Chemezov puts forward his idea and tries to explain the formation of a large hail and its ability to stay in the air for several minutes with the appearance of a “black hole” in the cloud itself. In his opinion, hail takes on a negative charge. The greater the negative charge of an object, the lower the concentration of ether (physical vacuum) in this object. And the lower the concentration of ether in a material object, the more anti-gravity it has. According to Chemezov, a black hole is a good trap for hailstones. As soon as lightning flashes, the negative charge is extinguished and hailstones begin to fall.

An analysis of world literature shows that there are many shortcomings and often speculations in this field of science.

At the end of the All-Union Conference in Minsk on September 13, 1989 on the topic "Synthesis and study of prostaglandins", we, with the staff of the institute, were returning by plane from Minsk to Leningrad late at night. The stewardess reported that our plane was flying at an altitude of 9 km. We gladly watched the monstrous spectacle. Below us at a distance of about 7-8 km(slightly above the surface of the earth) as if there was a terrible war. These were powerful lightning discharges. And above us the weather is clear and the stars are shining. And when we were over Leningrad, we were informed that an hour ago hail and rain had fallen into the city. With this episode, I want to note that hail-bearing lightning often sparkles closer to the ground. For the occurrence of hail and lightning, it is not necessary to raise the flow of cumulonimbus clouds to a height of 8-10 km. And there is absolutely no need for clouds to cross above the zero isotherm.

Huge ice blocks form in the warm layer of the troposphere. Such a process does not require sub-zero temperatures and high altitudes. Everyone knows that without thunder and lightning there is no hail. Apparently, the collision and friction of small and large crystals is not necessary for the formation of an electrostatic field. solid ice, as it is often written about, although friction of warm and cold clouds in a liquid state (convection) is sufficient to accomplish this phenomenon. Thunderclouds require a lot of moisture to form. At the same relative humidity warm air contains much more moisture than cold air. Therefore, thunderstorms and lightning usually occur during the warm seasons - in spring, summer, autumn.

The mechanism of formation of an electrostatic field in clouds also remains an open question. There are many assumptions on this issue. In one of the recent reports, that in the ascending currents of moist air, along with uncharged nuclei, there are always positively and negatively charged ones. Moisture condensation can occur on any of them. It has been established that the condensation of moisture in the air begins first on negatively charged nuclei, and not on positively charged or neutral nuclei. For this reason, negative particles accumulate in the lower part of the cloud, and positive particles accumulate in the upper part. Consequently, a huge electric field is created inside the cloud, the strength of which is 10 6 -10 9 V, and the current strength is 10 5 3 10 5 A . Such a strong potential difference, in the end, leads to a powerful electrical discharge. A lightning discharge can last 10 -6 (one millionth) of a second. When lightning strikes, a colossal thermal energy, and the temperature at the same time reaches 30,000 o K! This is about 5 times greater than the surface temperature of the Sun. Of course, the particles of such a huge energy zone must exist in the form of plasma, which, after a lightning discharge, turn into neutral atoms or molecules by recombination.

What can this terrible heat lead to?

Many people know that with a strong lightning discharge, the neutral molecular oxygen of the air easily turns into ozone and its specific smell is felt:

2O 2 + O 2 → 2O 3 (1)

In addition, it was found that under these harsh conditions, even chemically inert nitrogen reacts simultaneously with oxygen, forming mono - NO and nitrogen dioxide NO 2:

N 2 + O 2 → 2NO + O 2 → 2NO 2 (2)

3NO 2 + H 2 O → 2HNO 3 ↓ + NO(3)

The resulting nitrogen dioxide NO 2, in turn, combining with water, turns into nitric acid HNO 3, which falls to the ground as part of the sediment.

It was previously believed that contained in cumulonimbus clouds salt(NaCl), alkali carbonates (Na 2 CO 3) and alkaline earth (CaCO 3) metals react with nitric acid, and eventually nitrates (nitrates) are formed.

NaCl + HNO 3 = NaNO 3 + HCl (4)

Na 2 CO 3 + 2 HNO 3 \u003d 2 NaNO 3 + H 2 O + CO 2 (5)

CaCO 3 + 2HNO 3 \u003d Ca (NO 3) 2 + H 2 O + CO 2 (6)

Saltpeter mixed with water is a cooling agent. Given this premise, Gassendi developed the idea that the upper layers of the air are cold, not because they are far from the heat source reflected from the ground, but because of the "nitrogen corpuscles" (nitrate), which are very numerous there. In winter they are fewer and only produce snow, but in summer they are more so that hail can form. Subsequently, this hypothesis was also subject to criticism by contemporaries.

What can happen to water under such harsh conditions?

There is no information about this in the literature.. By heating to a temperature of 2500 ° C or by passing a constant electric current through water at room temperature, it decomposes into its constituent components, and the thermal effect of the reaction is shown in the equation (7):

2H2O (and)→ 2H2 (G) +O2 (G) ̶ 572 kJ(7)

2H2 (G) +O2 (G) → 2H2O (and) + 572 kJ(8)

The water decomposition reaction (7) is an endothermic process, and energy must be introduced from outside to break covalent bonds. However, in this case, it comes from the system itself (in this case, water polarized in an electrostatic field). This system resembles an adiabatic process, during which there is no heat exchange between the gas and the environment, and such processes occur very quickly (lightning discharge). In a word, during the adiabatic expansion of water (decomposition of water into hydrogen and oxygen) (7), its internal energy is consumed, and, therefore, it begins to cool itself. Of course, during a lightning discharge, the equilibrium is completely shifted to the right side, and the resulting gases - hydrogen and oxygen - instantly react with a roar (“explosive mixture”) by the action of an electric arc back to form water (8). This reaction is easy to carry out in the laboratory. Despite the decrease in the volume of the reacting components in this reaction, a strong roar is obtained. The rate of the reverse reaction according to the Le Chatelier principle is favorably affected by the high pressure obtained as a result of reaction (7). The fact is that the direct reaction (7) must go with a strong roar, since gases are instantly formed from the liquid state of aggregation of water (most authors attribute this to the intense heating and expansion in or around the air channel created by a strong lightning bolt). It is possible that therefore the sound of thunder is not monotonous, that is, it does not resemble the sound of an ordinary explosive or gun. First comes the decomposition of water (first sound), followed by the addition of hydrogen with oxygen (second sound). However, these processes occur so quickly that not everyone can distinguish them.

How is hail formed?

During a lightning discharge, due to the receipt of a huge amount of heat, water intensively evaporates through the lightning discharge channel or around it, as soon as the lightning stops flashing, it begins to cool strongly. According to the well-known law of physics strong evaporation leads to cooling. It is noteworthy that the heat during a lightning discharge is not introduced from the outside, on the contrary, it comes from the system itself (in this case, the system is electrostatically polarized water). The kinetic energy of the polarized water system itself is spent on the evaporation process. With such a process, strong and instantaneous evaporation ends with a strong and rapid solidification of water. The stronger the evaporation, the more intense the process of water solidification. For such a process, it is not necessary that the ambient temperature be below zero. During a lightning discharge, various types of hailstones are formed, which differ in size. The magnitude of the hailstone depends on the power and intensity of the lightning. The more powerful and intense the lightning, the larger the hailstones. Usually the hailstone sediment quickly stops as soon as the lightning stops flashing.

Processes of this type also operate in other spheres of Nature. Let's take a few examples.

1. Refrigeration systems work according to the above principle. That is, artificial cold (minus temperatures) is formed in the evaporator as a result of the boiling of a liquid refrigerant, which is supplied there through a capillary tube. Due to the limited capacity of the capillary tube, the refrigerant enters the evaporator relatively slowly. The boiling point of the refrigerant is usually about -30 o C. Once in the warm evaporator, the refrigerant instantly boils, strongly cooling the walls of the evaporator. The refrigerant vapors formed as a result of its boiling enter the compressor suction pipe from the evaporator. Pumping out the gaseous refrigerant from the evaporator, the compressor pumps it under high pressure into the condenser. The gaseous refrigerant in the high-pressure condenser cools and gradually condenses from a gaseous to a liquid state. The newly liquid refrigerant from the condenser is fed through the capillary tube to the evaporator, and the cycle is repeated.

2. Chemists are well aware of the production of solid carbon dioxide (CO 2). Carbon dioxide is usually transported in steel cylinders in a liquefied liquid aggregate phase. When gas is slowly passed from a cylinder at room temperature, it passes into a gaseous state if it release intensively, then it immediately passes into a solid state, forming "snow" or "dry ice", having a sublimation temperature of -79 to -80 ° C. Intensive evaporation leads to solidification of carbon dioxide, bypassing the liquid phase. Obviously, the temperature inside the balloon is positive, but the solid carbon dioxide released in this way (“dry ice”) has a sublimation temperature of approximately -80 ° C.

3. Another important example related to this topic. Why does a person sweat? Everyone knows that under normal conditions or under physical stress, as well as with nervous excitement, a person sweats. Sweat is a liquid secreted by the sweat glands and contains 97.5 - 99.5% water, a small amount of salts (chlorides, phosphates, sulfates) and some other substances (from organic compounds- urea, uric acid salts, creatine, sulfuric acid esters). True, excessive sweating can indicate the presence of serious diseases. There may be several reasons: a cold, tuberculosis, obesity, a violation of the cardiovascular system, etc. However, the main thing sweating regulates body temperature. Sweating increases in hot and humid climates. We usually sweat when we are hot. The higher the ambient temperature, the more we sweat. The body temperature of a healthy person is always 36.6 ° C, and one of the methods of maintaining this normal temperature is perspiration. Through the enlarged pores, intensive evaporation of moisture from the body occurs - a person sweats a lot. And the evaporation of moisture from any surface, as indicated above, contributes to its cooling. When the body is in danger of overheating, the brain triggers the sweating mechanism, and the sweat evaporating from our skin cools the surface of the body. That's why a person sweats when it's hot.

4. In addition, water can also be turned into ice in a conventional glass laboratory apparatus (Fig. 1), with reduced pressures without external cooling (at 20°C). It is only necessary to attach a fore-vacuum pump with a trap to this installation.

Figure 1. Vacuum Distillation Unit

Figure 2. Amorphous structure inside a hailstone

Figure 3. Blocks of hailstones are formed from small hailstones

In conclusion, I would like to touch on a very important issue regarding the multi-layer hailstones (Fig. 2-3). What causes turbidity in the hailstone structure? It is believed that in order to carry a hailstone with a diameter of about 10 centimeters through the air, the ascending jets of air in a thundercloud must have a speed of at least 200 km / h, and thus snowflakes and air bubbles are included in it. This layer looks cloudy. But if the temperature is higher, then the ice freezes more slowly, and the included snowflakes have time to melt, and the air escapes. Therefore, it is assumed that such a layer of ice is transparent. According to the authors, it is possible to trace from the rings in which layers of the cloud the hailstone visited before falling to the ground. From fig. 2-3 clearly shows that the ice that hailstones are made of is indeed heterogeneous. Almost every hailstone consists of clear and cloudy ice in the center. The opacity of ice can be caused for various reasons. In large hailstones, layers of transparent and opaque ice sometimes alternate. In our opinion, the white layer is responsible for the amorphous, and the transparent layer, for the crystalline form of ice. In addition, the amorphous aggregate form of ice is obtained by extremely rapid cooling of liquid water (at a rate of about 10 7o K per second), as well as a rapid increase in ambient pressure, so that the molecules do not have time to form a crystal lattice. In this case, this occurs by a lightning discharge, which fully corresponds to the favorable condition for the formation of metastable amorphous ice. Huge blocks weighing 1-2 kg from fig. 3 shows that they were formed from clusters of relatively small hailstones. Both factors show that the formation of the corresponding transparent and opaque layers in the section of the hailstone is due to the impact of extremely high pressures generated during a lightning discharge.

Conclusions:

1. Without a lightning bolt and a strong thunderstorm, hail does not occur, A thunderstorms happen without hail. Thunderstorm is accompanied by hail.

2. The reason for the formation of hail is the generation of an instantaneous and huge amount of heat during a lightning discharge in cumulonimbus clouds. The resulting powerful heat leads to a strong evaporation of water in the channel of the lightning discharge and around it. Strong evaporation of water is accomplished by its rapid cooling and the formation of ice, respectively.

3. This process does not require the transition of the zero isotherm of the atmosphere, which has a negative temperature, and can easily occur in the low and warm layers of the troposphere.

4. The process is essentially close to an adiabatic process, since the resulting thermal energy is not introduced into the system from the outside, and it comes from the system itself.

5. A powerful and intense lightning discharge provides the conditions for the formation of large hailstones.

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