Know you've been bustin' to know this -- How Come an Igloo Doesn't Melt Inside? Eskimos still construct the igloo for special occasions or while on a journey, even though stone and wooden houses have become more popular among them. An igloo is quickly built and it defies any kind of weather. First a trench is cut about 5 feet long and 20 inches deep into a newly made snowdrift. Then, from the face of the trench, blocks are cut with a knife. These are shaped so that they lean inward when set on edge. A circle of those snowblocks is laid and then shaved down so that as the Eskimo builds there will be narrowing spiral. The material is cut from the inside of the house as the man works. Then a keystone --with edges wider above then below-- is dropped into the space at the top. Then all the cracks are filled in with soft snow. A small igloo can be built in this way in a couple of hours. When the house has been built, the woman takes over. She lights her blubber lamp and makes it burn as hot as possible. Then she closes the door with a block of ice and makes everything airtight. Now the snow begins to melt. But because the dome's roof is curved, it doesn't drip. Instead, it soaks gradually into the blocks so that they are nearly wet all the way through. When the blocks are sufficiently wet, she puts
out her lamp and opens the door. The intensely cold air rushes in, and in a few minutes -- the house is transformed from a fragile building of snow to a dome of ice! It is now so strong that a polar bear can crawl over the roof without breaking it in.
And, because it is so solid and hard, it doesn't melt and therefore provide a nice, snug shelter. In all honesty, igloos generally don't last for years. Once the winter ends --and the temperature rises-- the igloo does begin to melt, and it is usually the roof which first caves in.
***It's so damn hot here now, the thought of being in an igloo right now, or somewhere where it is cold enough for there to be one -
is enticing.
Jul 26, 2009 @ 23:43:15
I had no idea they could be that hard, or that solid
