The man tossed the water over the balcony of his apartment and filmed the result — a beautiful cloud of snow falling down to the ground, reports Yahoo! News.
While it may be surprising that boiling water would turn to snow so quickly, it is actually a known reaction in chemistry called the Mpemba effect. The phenomenon remains a mystery, but it shows that boiling water actually freezes faster than cold water.
There are other videos of the phenomenon and awesome science experiment, like one posted to weather.com two years ago, showing a woman tossing a cup of boiling water into the air in Canada’s Northwest Territories. The temperature outside, according to the woman, is negative 22 degrees Fahrenheit. The water, which started out around 212 F instantly turns to snow when it hits the air. Once it reaches the ground, it is blown away by the wind.
Life’s Little Mysteries notes that Mark Seeley, a climatologist with the University of Minnesota, explained the Mpemba effect by saying:
“When it’s cold outside, there’s hardly any water vapor present in the air, whereas boiling water emits vapor very readily — that’s why it’s steaming. When you throw the water up in the air, it breaks into much smaller droplets, so there’s even more surface for water vapor to come off of.”
Because of the smaller droplets, it turns into crystals, like snowflakes. Seeley cautioned, however, that you should not try the experiment at home unless the temperature is negative 30 or lower.
Check out the video below to see boiling water turn into snow.