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The electrification of freezing water droplets and of colliding ice particles
Author(s) -
Evans D. G.,
Hutchinson W. C. A.
Publication year - 1963
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.49708938108
Subject(s) - supercooling , ice crystals , temperature gradient , charge (physics) , physics , materials science , thermodynamics , meteorology , quantum mechanics
When supercooled drops of diameter 1·3 mm were nucleated at — 0·2$C and froze in an environment at — 15$C and fragmented, the average charge on positive residues was 1·5 × 10 −3 e.s.u., and on negative residues — 2·2 × 10 −3 e.s.u. The charges were comparable with those found in similar measurements by Mason and Maybank but were usually far too large to be accounted for by the Latham‐Mason temperature‐gradient theory. When ice crystals differing in temperature by up to 10$C were brought into momentary contact, any charge produced was less than 10 −4 e.s.u. This result is not inconsistent with the Latham‐Mason theory and does not confirm the much larger values reported by Reynolds et al.