Editing Snowball

{{Short description | Spherical object made from compacted snow}}
{{Other uses}}

[[File:Снежок1.jpg|thumb|A snowball]]
A '''snowball''' is a [[sphere|spherical]] object made from [[snow]], usually created by scooping snow with the hands and pressing the snow together to compact it into a ball.<ref name="schmitz">{{Cite book 
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Y1ydBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA206 
| page = 206
| title = Physical Chemistry: Concepts and Theory
| first = Kenneth S 
| last = Schmitz
| publisher = Elsevier
| year =  2016
| isbn = 9780128006009
}}</ref> Snowballs are often used in games such as [[snowball fight]]s.

A snowball may also be a large ball of snow formed by rolling a smaller snowball on a snow-covered surface. The smaller snowball grows by picking up additional snow as it rolls. The terms "[[snowball effect]]" and "snowballing" are derived from this process. The Welsh dance "[[Nantgarw tradition|Y Gasseg Eira]]" also takes its name from an analogy with rolling a large snowball.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Windham |title=Windham {{!}} Y Gaseg Eira |url=https://www.windham.club/dances/y-gaseg-eira |access-date=2023-09-22 |website=Windham {{!}} Y Gaseg Eira}}</ref> This method of forming a large snowball is often used to create the components needed to build a [[snowman]].

The underlying physical process that makes snowballs possible is [[sintering]], in which a solid mass is compacted while near the melting point.<ref>{{Cite book 
  | isbn = 9781421402154 
  | title = Gliding for Gold: The Physics of Winter Sports 
  | first = Mark 
  | last = Denny 
  | publisher = JHU Press
  | year = 2011 }}</ref> Scientific theories about snowball formation began with a lecture by [[Michael Faraday]] in 1842, examining the attractive forces between ice particles. An influential early explanation by [[James Thomson (engineer)|James Thomson]] invoked [[regelation]], in which a solid is melted by pressure and then re-frozen.<ref name="riley">{{Cite news 
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KDjf7u8ZcboC&pg=PA45 
 | title = A snowball's chance 
 | first = Frank 
 | last = Riley 
 | date = 1988-01-14 
 | magazine = New Scientist 
 }}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==When and how==

When forming a snowball by packing, the pressure exerted by the hands on the snow is a determinant for the final result. Reduced pressure leads to a light and soft snowball. Compacting humid  or "packing" snow by applying a high pressure produces a harder snowball, sometimes called an ice ball, which can injure an opponent during a snowball fight.

Temperature is important for snowball formation. It is hard to make a good snowball if the snow is too cold.<ref name="schmitz"/> In addition, snowballs are difficult to form with dry powdery snow. In temperatures below {{Convert|0|°C|°F|0|abbr=on}}, there is little free water in the snow, which leads to crumbly snowballs. At {{Convert|0|°C|°F|0|abbr=on}} or above, melted water in the snow results in a better cohesion.<ref>{{cite conference |url=https://arc.lib.montana.edu/snow-science/objects/ISSW14_paper_P2.24.pdf |title=Granulation of Snow: Experiments and Discrete Element Modeling |first1=Walter |last1=Steinkogler |first2=Johan |last2=Gaume |first3=Henning |last3=Löwe |first4=Betty |last4=Sovilla |first5=Michael |last5=Lehning |date=2014 |conference=International Snow Science Workshop |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200328052228/https://arc.lib.montana.edu/snow-science/objects/ISSW14_paper_P2.24.pdf |archive-date=28 March 2020 |location=Banff |pages=733{{ndash}}737 |access-date=28 March 2020 }}</ref> Above a certain temperature, however, the snowball becomes [[slush]], which lacks mechanical strength and no longer sticks together.<ref>{{Cite book | author = Morag Challenor | chapter = No-Ball Snow | page = 157 | title = Does Anything Eat Wasps?: And 101 Other Unsettling, Witty Answers to Questions You Never Thought You Wanted to Ask
| editor = New Scientist
| publisher = Simon and Schuster
| year = 2006 
| isbn = 9780743299176 }}</ref> This effect is used in the rule that, in skiing areas, there is a high risk of avalanche if it is possible to squeeze water out of a snowball.<ref>{{Cite journal
 | title= Developing Interfacial Phase Diagrams for Applications in Activated Sintering and Beyond: Current Status and Future Directions
 | first = Jian 
 | last = Luo
 | journal = Journal of the American Ceramic Society
 | date = 2012-01-16
 | volume = 95 
 | issue = 8 
 | pages = 2358–2371 
 | doi = 10.1111/j.1551-2916.2011.05059.x}}</ref>

==Natural snowballs==
{{Main| Snow roller}}
Under certain conditions, [[Snow roller|natural snowball]]s may form as a result of wind, without human intervention. These conditions are:<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/6950788/Snow-stories-rare-self-rolling-snow-balls-found-in-UK.html Rare self-rolling giant snow balls found in UK] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100112014558/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/6950788/Snow-stories-rare-self-rolling-snow-balls-found-in-UK.html |date=2010-01-12 }}, The Telegraph, January 8, 2010</ref>

* The ground must have a top layer of ice. This will prevent the snowball from sticking to the ground.
* That ice must have some wet and loose snow that is near its melting point.
* The wind must be strong enough to push the snowballs, but not too strong.

In Antarctica, small windblown frost balls form through a different process that relies on [[electrostatic attraction]];<ref>
{{Cite journal|author1=J. Nelson  |author2=M. Baker |name-list-style=amp |title = Charging of ice-vapor interfaces|journal = Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions|year = 2003|volume = 3|pages = 41–73|url = http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/3/41/2003/acpd-3-41-2003-print.pdf}}</ref> these wind-rolled frost balls are known as [[yukimarimo]].

Under other rare circumstances, in coastal and river areas, [[wave action]] on ice and snow may create beach snowballs or [[ball ice]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Emerson |first1=Sarah |title=Thousands of Snowballs on This Siberian Beach Are Straight From a Fairy Tale |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/thousands-of-snowballs-on-this-siberian-beach-are-straight-from-a-fairy-tale/ |access-date=8 November 2016 |work=Motherboard |publisher=[[Vice Media]] |date=8 November 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109090438/http://motherboard.vice.com/en_ca/read/thousands-of-snowballs-on-this-siberian-beach-are-straight-from-a-fairy-tale |archive-date=9 November 2016}}</ref>
<gallery>
File:Jää on kulmunud pallideks (Looduse veidrused). 05.jpg | Ball ice
File:Yukimarimo_south_pole_dawn_2009.jpg | Yukimarimo
File:Snow roller (30 January 2014) (Newark, Ohio, USA) 53 (46107487244).jpg | Wind-rolled snowball
File:Spongy ice ball Lake Street.jpg | Beach snowball showing signs of [[denivation]]
</gallery>

==Snow lanterns==
[[File:Snow lanterns Large.jpg|thumb|250px|Snowball lanterns]]
{{Main|Snow lantern}}
A [[snow lantern]] is a decorative structure made from snowballs, typically shaped into a hollow cone. It is commonly used as a housing for a light source, such as a [[candle]] or a Japanese stone garden lantern known as [[Tōrō#Yukimi-dōrō|''Yukimi Gata'']]. Snow lanterns are part of winter traditions in countries such as Sweden, Finland, and Norway, where they are created and lit during the [[Christmas]] season. These structures illuminate the winter landscape and are associated with festive celebrations in snowy regions.

==Literary allusion==
A snowball that turns into a child is a protagonist in a 1969 children's fantasy novel, ''[[The Snowball (children's novel)|The Snowball]]'', by [[Barbara Sleigh]].<ref>University of Oxford libraries [http://solo-prd.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?fn=search&ct=search&vid=OXVU1&vl(freeText0)=0340042230 Retrieved 14 September 2018.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201017232455/http://solo-prd.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?fn=search&ct=search&vid=OXVU1&vl(freeText0)=0340042230 |date=17 October 2020 }}</ref>

==Gallery==
{| class="wikitable"
|[[File:Pyramid of Snowballs Large.png|thumb|250px|Collections of snowballs arranged in pyramid shape]]
|[[File:Venceslao Gennaio Castello Buonconsiglio Trento c1400 detail.jpg|thumb|A medieval image from Italy of people throwing snowballs ({{c.|1400}})]]
|[[File:Ambrogio Lorenzetti 010.jpg|thumb|100px|Ambrogio Lorenzetti's ''Winter'' ({{C.|1338–1340}})]]
|}

==References==
{{Wiktionary|snowball's chance in hell}}
{{Commons category}}
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Snow|Ball]]
[[Category:Play (activity)]]