If such snow hits an obstacle at only moderate speed, its compressibility acts like the crumple zone in a car. "As the snow compacts in front of the obstacle, it can greatly reduce the force of the ...

Add water to a half-filled cup and the water level rises. This everyday experience reflects a positive material property of the water-cup system. But what if adding more water lowers the water level ...

Our intuition tells us that a sample of material compressed uniformly from all sides should reduce its dimensions. Only a few materials subjected to hydrostatic compression exhibit the opposite ...

"That's obviously a simplification. Anyone who's ever made a snowball knows how tightly cold, dry snow in particular can be compressed," says Kohler. It is precisely this kind of cold, dry snow that ...