1
00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,600
Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from house stuff Works dot com

2
00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:14,600
Speaker 1: where smart happens. I am Marshall Brain with today's question.

3
00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:18,480
Speaker 1: Is it possible to make snow in your backyard like

4
00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:22,639
Speaker 1: a ski resort makes snow on a mountaintop. If you

5
00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:25,440
Speaker 1: live in a climate that's cold enough, then the answer

6
00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:28,240
Speaker 1: is yes. You need a place where it gets down

7
00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:32,639
Speaker 1: to twenty degrees fahrenheit or colder at night and preferably

8
00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:35,080
Speaker 1: during the daytime as well. But if you live in

9
00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:38,120
Speaker 1: that kind of climate, then it's possible to make snow

10
00:00:38,120 --> 00:00:41,760
Speaker 1: in your backyard in two different ways. The first way

11
00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:46,920
Speaker 1: involves compressed air. The idea is to create for yourself

12
00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:51,519
Speaker 1: a nozzle that has pressurized water coming in and mixing

13
00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:55,360
Speaker 1: with compressed air from a fairly large air compressor. The

14
00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:58,800
Speaker 1: compressed air has the effect of blowing the water out

15
00:00:58,880 --> 00:01:01,800
Speaker 1: as a fine from the end of the nozzle, but

16
00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:05,120
Speaker 1: it has another effect as well. As it expands, it

17
00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:09,360
Speaker 1: releases heat, cooling the water, and then as it hits

18
00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:14,200
Speaker 1: the cold air, it freezes into tiny granules or droplets

19
00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:17,440
Speaker 1: of ice, which fall to the ground and look like snow.

20
00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:20,760
Speaker 1: If you poke around on Google, it's fairly easy to

21
00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:24,360
Speaker 1: find instructions for building these kind of nozzles. They're not complicated.

22
00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:27,319
Speaker 1: They're made out of little pieces of galvanized pipe that

23
00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:30,200
Speaker 1: you might buy at a place like home depot or lows.

24
00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:33,680
Speaker 1: You put them together. You have one input for the air,

25
00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:36,560
Speaker 1: a t connection, and another input for the water. They

26
00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:38,880
Speaker 1: mix in the pipe and then blow out an in

27
00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:42,360
Speaker 1: cap in which you drill a small hole. Most people

28
00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:45,200
Speaker 1: who are doing this build three or four of these

29
00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:49,520
Speaker 1: nozzles and pump snow out for you know, hours or

30
00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:51,640
Speaker 1: days at a time to build up a layer in

31
00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:56,000
Speaker 1: their backyard. The second technique is to use a very

32
00:01:56,120 --> 00:02:00,320
Speaker 1: large and powerful fan that creates a blast of air

33
00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:03,960
Speaker 1: out of an air nozzle, and then to arrange misters

34
00:02:04,080 --> 00:02:08,079
Speaker 1: around that air nozzle. The air from the fan blasts

35
00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:12,600
Speaker 1: the droplets from the mists upward, and those droplets freeze

36
00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:15,200
Speaker 1: in mid air and fall to the ground. Usually you

37
00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:18,360
Speaker 1: can create a larger volume of snow this way, but

38
00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:21,080
Speaker 1: you need a lower temperature for it to work. Now,

39
00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:23,519
Speaker 1: what if you live in Florida. You're not going to

40
00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:26,960
Speaker 1: be making snow yourself because it doesn't get cold enough

41
00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,639
Speaker 1: at night. But you still do have an option. There

42
00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:33,160
Speaker 1: are companies that will bring huge blocks of ice to

43
00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:37,680
Speaker 1: your house in a truck with a crusher. They'll crush

44
00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:40,839
Speaker 1: that ice in defined particles and then spray it over

45
00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:43,639
Speaker 1: your yard. It'll last, you know, a day or two,

46
00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:46,079
Speaker 1: depending on how warm it is. It is a way

47
00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:48,960
Speaker 1: to create the look of snow in your yard in

48
00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:54,440
Speaker 1: a warmer climate. For moral This and thousands of other topics.

49
00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:56,720
Speaker 1: Is it how stuff works dot com. To learn more

50
00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:59,520
Speaker 1: about the podcast, click on the podcast icon in the

51
00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:02,639
Speaker 1: upper right corner of our homepage. The House Stuff Works

52
00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:05,960
Speaker 1: iPhone app has a ride. Download it today on iTunes,

53
00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:07,359
Speaker 1: m