Wednesday, December 5, 2007

earth science picture of the day


one of the sites i try to check daily
is "earth science picture of the day".

they usually display cloud, atmospheric
or geological images. one of my favorite
was back on march 17 2004. it was
"Microscopic View of Frost on Blade of Grass"
by Eric Erbe at Scanning Electron Microscopy Laboratory
in Beltsville, Maryland.

interesting how the ice crystals form & stack
at a right angle to the blade of grass.

2 comments:

Lara said...

why is that?

davidross said...

good question Lara
my guess is it has something to do with maximum adhesion to the plant cells on the blade. but there might be some other physical science explanation regarding water molecules & grass blade cells.