Can you really burn snow?????

[briantshore]

I was thumbing through this months Boy's Life magazine. I stopped off at Pee Wee Harris, and thought back to a old issue 1970's in which Pee Wee and Westy were camping in the winter, and melting snow for there water. It said that there was a bad smell coming from the pot. Westy told Pee Wee that he should have stirred the pot of snow. Becouse he did not the snow had scorched. Westy then said that Pee Wee was the only scout that could burn water. This is a case for the myth busters. Can you burn snow? From my expereance, you cannot.

[hendrickms24]

I bet you my Mother can burn snow!

She can burn anything and the Smoke Detector

gets a major work over at least once a

week test from all the smoke.

 

Just kidding about the burn of the snowyou cant.

 

Mark Maranto

 

[NeilLup]

Hello,

 

"Burning" represents the oxidation of a material rapidly to produce a hot plasma.

 

Snow (frozen water) is already fully oxidized and so cannot be oxidized further in an oxygen atmosphere. It will not burn.

 

Water will react in a fluorine atmosphere or, I believe, in an atmosphere of oxygen difluoride. Whether "snow" would "burn" in that atmosphere, I don't know and, quite frankly, I would rather not conduct the experiment to find out.

 

Once upon a time, I was a chemist.

[Trevorum]

Neil,

I am surprised at you. Every Scout knows that burning water is easily accomplished. However, you must first filter the water through a left-handed smoke-sifter.