Continue with Microsoft TeamsRead About Three Types of Ice
Vocabulary
Read the vocabulary terms to understand the reading better.
Frost is what we call the white ice crystals we see on a cold day when water vapour freezes onto a surface like a window.
Hail is balls of ice that form when drops of water freeze together high up in clouds.
When liquid water or water vapour freezes, it changes into solid water, called ice.
A snowflake is tiny pieces of ice crystals that form when water vapour in very cold air freezes. Snowflakes have six sides.
Water vapour is water in gas form.
Three Types of Ice
What different types of ice do we see in nature?
Snow
Did you know that snowflakes are tiny pieces of ice? Water vapour in very cold air freezes into snowflakes.
Snowflakes have different shapes. Many snowflakes are shaped like a star.
Frost
Frost is ice you see on the outside of windows. Sometimes you can see frost on plant leaves. Where does the frost come from?
Frost starts as water vapour in the air. The water vapour freezes on a window or leaf that is very cold.
People scrape frost off car windows in winter. Frost makes it hard to see out a window.
Hail
Hail is balls of ice that fall from the sky. Each ball of ice is called a hailstone.
Most of the time, hailstones are the size of a pea or smaller. Sometimes hailstones are much bigger.
A hailstone starts as a tiny drop of water in the air.
The drop of water freezes into a tiny piece of ice. Moving air pushes the tiny piece of ice into drops of water in the air.
The water drops freeze on the piece of ice and makes it bigger. Soon a hailstone becomes heavy and falls to the ground.
To learn more about ice, watch the video by SciShow Kids on Youtube.