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3 Check It Out! 4 Nature’s Fire and Ice 6 10 Facts About Fire and Ice 8 What an Ice Surprise! 9 Stay in an Ice Hotel
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10 Fire in the House 11 Fire in the Sky 12 Puzzles 14 Polar Bears of the Arctic 16 Delicious Freezing Experiment 17 Max & Gracie 18 Desert Animals Beat the Heat 20 The Land of Ice & Fire 24 Icebergs 25 The Titanic 26 Volcanoes! 27 A Volcano in Your Backyard 28 Hot and Cold Funnies 29 Kids Corner 30 Puzzle Solutions
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hen you think of something very hot, what comes to mind? I think of fire. What if you were imagining a very frigid place, where it is very, very cold. Would you think of the South Pole or the Arctic Circle? This issue will check out some of the hottest things and the coldest places on Earth. After reading all about fire and ice, tell us what we didn’t include. Perhaps you are thinking of something else that is very cold or extremely hot. We want to hear from you! We will publish a list of ideas from our readers in a future issue. In the meantime, get comfortable. Sit by the fire, curl up in a blanket, and sip on a hot cup of cocoa. Or maybe it’s warm where you live. Go outside. Sit down under a tree and cool off with a class of lemonade. Wherever you live, tell us what you enjoyed about this issue on Fire and Ice.
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by Shirley Anne Ramaley A forest is on fire! TV news and newspapers tell all about the disaster. Fire crews have been flown in from other states to help put out the fire. If the wind picks up, and there is no rain, the fire could spread rapidly. The fire needs to be put out! After all, fires are all bad, right? Maybe not. Natural fires caused by lightning are often good for our forests. These fires are nature’s way of cleansing the forest and making it stronger. This can help the plants and animals that live there. How is that? If you walk in a burned forest after the ground has cooled, everything looks black. Everywhere you look, the land seems cold and lifeless. But a lot of life remains hidden beneath the ashes and even in the trees. No plants can be seen, but roots survive beneath the ground. Within days, many plants will send up shoots. Certain types of trees are protected by thick bark. Only the most intense fires can burn them. Forest fires leave ashes on the forest floor. The ashes are like fertilizer. They help berry bushes and other plants grow better than before the fire. That means lots of food for forest animals. Stopping all fires leads to too many leaves, pine needles, dead grass, and dry brush on the ground. Then, if a fire does start, it spreads rapidly. That is why a forest manager might decide to start a “controlled� fire when weather conditions are right. These fires also help strengthen our forests.
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So a forest fire is not good or bad, but some of both.
It’s a cold winter day. You’re glad to be indoors, away from the chilly drizzle and gray gloom outside. Then you hear it. Ping! Ping-ping! What’s hitting the windows of your house? It’s freezing rain! Looks like you’re in for an ice storm! During an ice storm, everything outside soon gets covered in glistening ice. Trees and plants look like they’re made of glass. Roofs, cars, and street signs are coated with a shiny glaze. It’s an amazing sight!
Freezing Facts About Ice Storms Ice doesn’t actually fall from the sky. Freezing rain does. When this super-cold rain touches something that is freezing cold, the rain instantly turns to ice. It takes just a few minutes for everything to be encrusted in ice. During very severe storms, ice accumulations can be as much as three inches thick. Tree branches can become 30 times heavier when they are glazed in ice. This extra weight can easily cause heavy limbs to break off and come crashing down. Power lines and telephone lines can snap when covered in ice. Just a 1/2” accumulation can add 500 pounds of extra weight to long lines! When a brutal ice storm hit North America nearly 20 years ago, 3 million people were left without electricity because power lines came down. Many people were without electricity for six weeks! Weather experts call ice storms nature’s most unusual weather event. They can develop suddenly and make everything come to a standstill. If you go outside after an ice storm is over, wait until most of the ice has melted. And watch out for falling limbs!
Tree destruction caused by an ice storm
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What an Ice Surprise!
by Linda Zajac A chainsaw roars as the blade slices deeper inside the frozen block. Crystal ice chips spill from the crack. Soon the sculptor’s boots are covered in snow. All the while, the clock is ticking. There is no time to waste. In two and a half hours, the ice carving competition will be over. Time will be up. Each competitor starts with a block of ice weighing more than three hundred pounds. That’s heavier than a baby elephant! The blocks are specially made. Ice cubes from your freezer have tiny air bubbles. These giant blocks do not. Minutes pass quickly as sculptors cut, carve, and chip at the ice. Surprises begin emerging from the bitterly cold ice blocks. Then time is up. Like magicians, the sculptors have formed frozen water into amazing creations. Chiseled from crystal-clear ice, penguins, zebras, and other figures come to life. The sculptures dazzle in the sunshine, but they don’t last forever. Eventually, the stunning pieces of art will melt. When they do, they shed ice tears as they slowly slip away.
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Stay in an Ice Hotel
The Ice Hotel even has a chapel!
Would you like to sleep on a block of ice?
by Anne Renaud How do you chill out? Do you watch TV or cozy up with a good book? At Canada’s Ice Hotel, “chilling out” is taken seriously! Here, you can sleep on a giant ice cube or curl up in an ice chair. How cool is that? This ice hotel in the province of Quebec is made of 12,000 tons of snow and 400 tons of ice. Construction begins in December and lasts for five weeks. Steel frames give the hotel its shape. Snow is blown onto the frames until they are covered and the walls are four feet thick. When the snow is completely frozen, the steel frames are taken down. The finished hotel looks like a series of connecting igloos. Local Quebec artists carve blocks of ice into beds, chairs, tables, and lamps. Lighting is provided by fiber optic wiring, florescent lights, and candles. These give the ice hotel’s interior a soft glow. There is an ice chandelier, an ice theater, and indoor and outdoor skating rinks. Artwork carved entirely out of ice fills two art galleries. Temperatures outside the ice hotel may drop to -30°F. But temperatures inside the hotel remain about 25°F. The thick walls of ice and snow trap the heat inside the rooms, keeping the cold air outside. Sleeping here is a lot like camping, only much cooler. A mattress and a wooden base are set on a solid block of ice! Deer pelts are laid on top, and you sleep in a winter sleeping bag. In the morning, you are greeted with a cup of hot chocolate. Like an igloo, Canada’s Ice Hotel is temporary. Once the outside temperature reaches above 32°F, the bright white structure begins to melt. In March, the ice hotel fades away under a warm sun.
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