The Adhesion of Ice Spheres in Electric Fields

Abstract

AbstractThe forceFrequired to separate two ice spheres was measured as a function of environmental temperatureT, relative humidityHand the strengthEof the external electric field in which the spheres were situated. It was found that over the entire attainable range ofTandH,Fincreased rapidly with increasingE. The increased adhesion was not accompanied by an increase in the rate of growth of the ice bridge between the two spheres and is explicable in terms of Davis’s (1964) calculations of the purely electrostatic forces between two spheres situated in an electric field. The experiments indicate that the rate of growth of snowflakes in a cloud by means of ice crystal aggregation will be markedly enhanced if the cloud is highly electrified.