   |
 |
| BACK |
|
A fictional conversation held between parent and
child at the top of the Aiguille du Midi cable car in Chamonix. |
| -So
what is this? -It's a snow flake -Very weird. It's white and soft but I pressed it between my finger tips and it turned into water- -That's because it is water, but in a different state- -Well it can't be water then, because it's different- -But it is- -And I can turn it into water- -No, temperature change can. Your finger tips are warm- -So my finger tips changed the temperature of the snow- -Yes- -And it turned into water- -Yes- -So what was the snow flake before it was a snow flake?- -I'm not sure but my guess is it was water that became very, very cold- -What else could it have been?- -Well, originally water, as well as snow, were a gas, or two different gases, like the air we breathe, then two bits of one got together with one bit of the other to form a different bit, that repeated many times over, and at the right temperature, formed a snow flake- -They're piling up, the flakes, everything is covered in snow. It doesn't even look like flakes anymore. Look at those big square ones- -Those ones are not flakes, I mean, they are not flakes anymore, they became colder and moved on to a different state still, and turned into ice- -And can they turn into something different again?- -No. That's as far as it goes- -If I squeeze the ice between my finger tips, will it turn into a snow flake?- -No, it would turn, after a while, into water, without being a snow flake again- -So did the ice blocks fall from the sky, like the snow flake?-. -No, all the blocks of ice you see were snow flakes that piled up once they had fallen from the sky, then, because it was cold, the snow pile turned into a big sheet of ice. Then the ice started to slide down the mountain and breaking as it went along, forming those big ice blocks, also know as a glacier- -But it doesn't look like it's moving- -That's because it moves slowly. If you lay down on the floor, that's how far the ice blocks will move in one day- -So how long until it gets to the end?- -Very long, many years. You see, you weren't even born when the ice blocks which have now gone halfway down, started sliding at the top. If an airplane crashed at the top of the mountain when you were born, you would have been a grown man before the wreckage come out at the end- -But could the glacier carry the airplane all the way down?- -Yes, it's a lot of ice. See the big rocks being carried along?- -Yes. And there are people coming down the glacier- -They are skiers. That is a known route. See, they come down on the south side of the glacier and at that point they cross over to the north side and continue downwards- -But isn't it dangerous?- -It can be very dangerous. Many people die in this valley every year- -I don't like this place anymore, I want to go home- -We'll have to wait for the next cable-car- -Why do people do it, if it's so dangerous?- -That's something you need to ask to each one of them individually- -When we went to the beach there was no snow. But the glacier was still up here sliding down the mountain- -Yes- -What's that sound?- -It's the sound of the glacier moving- -It sounds like thunder- -Yes- -So if instead of going to the beach we come here, there will still be snow- -It looks different at that time of the year. The valleys are greener and there is not as much snow, only higher up, over there, where it never melts- -Up there it's always white?- -Always- -Why is there more snow now?- -Because... it's Winter |
| Bleak
Streets | Prewinter
Heat | Environmentalisms
| Q&A |
Comic | Winter
dialogue Iceland | What to do with a 2 year old on a winter's day |
| Home
| Contact
us | See previous issues #01
| #02
| #03
| #04
2006© All material and images published in Canvas are copyright of theArmada Collective Designed & conceived by Yuri Bacas Hosaka Special thanks to Andrew Clancy for donating some space in his server and all his technical knowledge! |
