WEBVTT - Can Winter Athletes Tell Real Snow from Fake Snow?

0:00:01.920 --> 0:00:06.600
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:11.280
<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff, Lauren Volga bomb here. Olympic Games are being

0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:15.159
<v Speaker 1>held in Beijing, China and its surrounding areas, which is

0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:18.400
<v Speaker 1>actually a little strange given that the annual snowfall for

0:00:18.440 --> 0:00:21.680
<v Speaker 1>the site of the National Alpine Ski Center gets just

0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:25.200
<v Speaker 1>over eight inches. That's twenty one of snow a year,

0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:29.120
<v Speaker 1>but the venue requires more than forty two point three

0:00:29.200 --> 0:00:33.240
<v Speaker 1>million cubic feet or one two million cubic meters of snow.

0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:37.479
<v Speaker 1>That means a lot of artificially produced snow has been

0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:40.320
<v Speaker 1>shooting out of snow cannons onto the mountain sides so

0:00:40.360 --> 0:00:43.320
<v Speaker 1>that there's enough of a blanket for skiers and snowboarders

0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:47.320
<v Speaker 1>to compete. In fact, is the first Winter Olympics to

0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:51.600
<v Speaker 1>rely almost entirely on fake snow. That's not as terrible

0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:54.760
<v Speaker 1>as it might sound, since Olympic level athletes are used

0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:58.080
<v Speaker 1>to gliding across fake snow. A many ski resorts use

0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:00.720
<v Speaker 1>fake snow to open the slopes early and extend the

0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:04.040
<v Speaker 1>season's well into spring, especially now that climate change is

0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:08.720
<v Speaker 1>affecting ski seasons around the world. In the United States,

0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:12.560
<v Speaker 1>for example, temperatures are up across of the nation with

0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:16.959
<v Speaker 1>the highest temperature increases happening during the winter. Warmer winters

0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:20.280
<v Speaker 1>mean less snow in many regions, and they also mean

0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:22.440
<v Speaker 1>that the snow that does fall often melts a little

0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:25.160
<v Speaker 1>during the day, then develops a crust of hard ice

0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:29.640
<v Speaker 1>overnight that makes more less than ideal skiing and snowboarding,

0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:33.400
<v Speaker 1>and it's really rotten if you fall down. Because these

0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:36.440
<v Speaker 1>athletes have so much experience with different kinds of snow,

0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:39.800
<v Speaker 1>they can definitely tell the difference between human made snow

0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:43.520
<v Speaker 1>and the real deal. A fake snow can feel stickier

0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:46.880
<v Speaker 1>than real snow, so athletes may use a harder wax

0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:49.760
<v Speaker 1>on their skis and snowboards to help them glide across

0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:53.920
<v Speaker 1>the surface. The fake snow is also firmer and harder packed.

0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:57.040
<v Speaker 1>A natural snow, on the other hand, feels smooth as

0:01:57.200 --> 0:02:00.800
<v Speaker 1>gears speed down the slopes and snowboarders drop into half pipes.

0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:03.840
<v Speaker 1>The difference in the feeling comes down to how the

0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:07.120
<v Speaker 1>snow is made and how it reaches the slopes. A

0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:10.480
<v Speaker 1>natural snow is about ten percent ice mixed with about

0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:15.160
<v Speaker 1>nine air, whereas human made snow is thirty ice and

0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:19.120
<v Speaker 1>sevent air. Snow that's made in clouds far above the

0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:23.720
<v Speaker 1>ground has those signature pointy crystals, then falls from the

0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:27.079
<v Speaker 1>sky and on its way to Earth, forms large fluffy

0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:31.320
<v Speaker 1>snow flakes with lots of air in each flake. Man

0:02:31.400 --> 0:02:34.639
<v Speaker 1>made snow has a rounded crystals because of the velocity

0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:37.680
<v Speaker 1>of being shot out of a snow gun. That shape

0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:40.320
<v Speaker 1>means that the flakes will be denser, with less air

0:02:40.440 --> 0:02:44.680
<v Speaker 1>between the crystals. Human made snow also only falls several

0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:47.359
<v Speaker 1>feet before it hits the ground, rather than hundreds or

0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:50.280
<v Speaker 1>thousands of feet, so the crystals don't have time to

0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:55.120
<v Speaker 1>form fluffy flakes even if they could. The airy nature

0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:58.840
<v Speaker 1>of natural snow means that it melts faster, whereas human

0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:02.240
<v Speaker 1>made snow holds up better if it rains, But fake

0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:06.320
<v Speaker 1>snow does get icier faster, which can be particularly tricky

0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:09.640
<v Speaker 1>when you're racing for the gold medal. That's another reason

0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:12.639
<v Speaker 1>that athletes train on as many kinds of snow as possible.

0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:15.960
<v Speaker 1>But no matter what kind of snow is on a mountain,

0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:20.680
<v Speaker 1>it's going to be groomed by machine before major competitions.

0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:23.680
<v Speaker 1>Often a base of denser human made snow will be

0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:27.280
<v Speaker 1>laid down before any natural snow falls, but it's not

0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:31.320
<v Speaker 1>a perfect process. The two kinds of snow are usually mixed,

0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:34.000
<v Speaker 1>so athletes need to be ready with their training and

0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:43.320
<v Speaker 1>their wax for any kind of condition. Today's episode is

0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:46.360
<v Speaker 1>based on the article will Beijing Athletes now fake snow

0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:48.720
<v Speaker 1>from real snow? On how stuff Works dot com written

0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:52.640
<v Speaker 1>by Kristen Hall Geisler. Brain Stuff is production of iHeart

0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:54.720
<v Speaker 1>Radio in partnership with how stuff works dot Com and

0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:57.520
<v Speaker 1>is produced by Tyler Klang and Ramsey Out. For more

0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:01.200
<v Speaker 1>podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio Apple Podcasts,

0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:13.200
<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H