Texas Fake Snow Debunked As People Burn and Microwave It, But Experts Claim It's Mere Sublimation

Is there something wrong with snow nowadays? A questionable claim circulated on social media asking if a snow-like material that, when subjected to sunlight, does not appear to melt.

The latest conspiracy theory comes from a TikTok trend that goes viral that shows people bringing fire to a snowball that explodes instead of melting. Several netizens falsely claimed about "a deep state plot to protect the wealthy elites."

A Facebook post is a repost of three TikTok videos by user doubleday24. Tiktok user Erickzilli asks if someone had even played with the "snow generated by the government yet." A final video by reginaldsutton8 said that snow did not melt from the hurricane that caused chaos in Texas in mid-February.

Several videos of individuals burning the snow with lighters were shared on Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter, but the snow allegedly remained firmly intact.

Some posts even stated that the one behind this conspiracy scheme is an entrepreneur and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. In some videos, US President Joe Biden was listed, saying that he intended for Texans to encounter a terrible snowstorm. Many of these videos have already been marked by Facebook for false content.

Still, last week, Google search words such as 'fake snow' and 'bill gates light' were trending, according to Business Insider.

What Would Sublimation Have to do in Texas Snow?

Film "evidence" has spread across the internet for years of a strange snow-like material that does not melt under blaze. The reports date back to at least 2014. Atlanta magazine said the circumstances in Atlanta after a snowstorm were likened to scenes from a "zombie apocalypse."

Dr. Mike Stone, a meteorologist for WTVR News in Richmond, Virginia. explained that the phase is just called "sublimation." Dr. Tandy Grubbs, professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Stetson University, told USA TODAY that the snowball would melt in time.

Slate magazine also tackled the conspiracy theories in a 2014 article. Phil Plait, a writer for Slate's Bad Astronomy site, refuted the conspiracy theories in a YouTube video. To explain the science behind this phenomenon, he filmed a replication of the snowball experiment and posted it on Bad Astronomer's YouTube channel.

Then what's going here, really? The reality is not a sinister thing; it's just research. The fire allows the frozen body of snow, not liquid water, to sublimate directly into water vapor. Sublimation is where the liquid step is missed by a solid and moves straight to steam. The contrary occurs, too, like when on the coldest days your air sticks and shatters.

Could You Make Fake Snow at Home, Though?

While it could be challenging to fake snow for a large area like Texas, you bet you can create some with traditional kitchen ingredients at home yourself.

How long is artificial snow going to last? It will last for 7 to 10 days if stored in an air-tight jar. It will extract humidity from the weather over time, and the quality will change. But whipping up a fresh batch of fake snow to play with is super fast! Take a peek at how to make artificial snow below!

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