Spiky Wheel

In case you haven’t heard, it’s snowed quite a bit in Denver lately. It snowed again today, and for my main job as a field technician for a major TLA (Three Letter Acronym), I had to drive to Golden on sloppy, slushy freeways. I’m not complaining; I actually kind of enjoyed it. It’s been a long time since we had a really good winter out here. Plus, it allowed me to get this great picture with my camera phone.

Spiky Wheel
It’s pretty cool; since the roads were slushy, rather than snowy, the dirty slush accumulated on the center cap of the wheel. Centrifugal force from the rotating wheel pushed the slush outward, and it froze, creating this set of slushy stalactites radiating out from the center.

(Yes, they would all be stalactites, even though some of them are pointing upward. Stalactites are formed by liquid moving from the base to the tip of the formation. Stalagmites, on the other hand, are formed by liquid dropping onto the tip and running down to the base. Centrifugal force would make the droplets of slush radiate outward from the hub, which forms the base, therefore these are all little stalactites. Or dirty icicles. Whichever you prefer.)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.