WEBVTT - How can I make artificial snow in my backyard?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from house stuff Works dot com

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<v Speaker 1>where smart happens. I am Marshall Brain with today's question.

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<v Speaker 1>Is it possible to make snow in your backyard like

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<v Speaker 1>a ski resort makes snow on a mountaintop. If you

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<v Speaker 1>live in a climate that's cold enough, then the answer

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<v Speaker 1>is yes. You need a place where it gets down

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<v Speaker 1>to twenty degrees fahrenheit or colder at night and preferably

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<v Speaker 1>during the daytime as well. But if you live in

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<v Speaker 1>that kind of climate, then it's possible to make snow

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<v Speaker 1>in your backyard in two different ways. The first way

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<v Speaker 1>involves compressed air. The idea is to create for yourself

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<v Speaker 1>a nozzle that has pressurized water coming in and mixing

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<v Speaker 1>with compressed air from a fairly large air compressor. The

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<v Speaker 1>compressed air has the effect of blowing the water out

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<v Speaker 1>as a fine from the end of the nozzle, but

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<v Speaker 1>it has another effect as well. As it expands, it

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<v Speaker 1>releases heat, cooling the water, and then as it hits

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<v Speaker 1>the cold air, it freezes into tiny granules or droplets

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<v Speaker 1>of ice, which fall to the ground and look like snow.

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<v Speaker 1>If you poke around on Google, it's fairly easy to

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<v Speaker 1>find instructions for building these kind of nozzles. They're not complicated.

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<v Speaker 1>They're made out of little pieces of galvanized pipe that

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<v Speaker 1>you might buy at a place like home depot or lows.

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<v Speaker 1>You put them together. You have one input for the air,

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<v Speaker 1>a t connection, and another input for the water. They

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<v Speaker 1>mix in the pipe and then blow out an in

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<v Speaker 1>cap in which you drill a small hole. Most people

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<v Speaker 1>who are doing this build three or four of these

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<v Speaker 1>nozzles and pump snow out for you know, hours or

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<v Speaker 1>days at a time to build up a layer in

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<v Speaker 1>their backyard. The second technique is to use a very

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<v Speaker 1>large and powerful fan that creates a blast of air

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<v Speaker 1>out of an air nozzle, and then to arrange misters

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<v Speaker 1>around that air nozzle. The air from the fan blasts

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<v Speaker 1>the droplets from the mists upward, and those droplets freeze

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<v Speaker 1>in mid air and fall to the ground. Usually you

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<v Speaker 1>can create a larger volume of snow this way, but

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<v Speaker 1>you need a lower temperature for it to work. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>what if you live in Florida. You're not going to

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<v Speaker 1>be making snow yourself because it doesn't get cold enough

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<v Speaker 1>at night. But you still do have an option. There

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<v Speaker 1>are companies that will bring huge blocks of ice to

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<v Speaker 1>your house in a truck with a crusher. They'll crush

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<v Speaker 1>that ice in defined particles and then spray it over

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<v Speaker 1>your yard. It'll last, you know, a day or two,

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<v Speaker 1>depending on how warm it is. It is a way

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<v Speaker 1>to create the look of snow in your yard in

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<v Speaker 1>a warmer climate. For moral This and thousands of other topics.

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