Fact check: The science behind why a snowball seems to 'burn'

An old claim about burning snowballs has resurfaced on social media amid a flurry of holiday snowstorms.

A viral Dec. 13 Facebook video shows a man attempting to melt a snowball with a lighter only to discover the snowball does not melt but rather appears to burn and turn black in the area that was contacted by the lighter's flame.

"If this is snow, then why doesn't it melt?" says the man in the video. "Look at that. How is that snow? What is it? That is not snow."

The video was shared more than 1,000 times in two weeks.

Some commenters said they believe snow is actually plastic or a product of weather modification.

This isn't true, though. The snow is real, and the reaction to the lighter has a simple scientific explanation, experts said.

USA TODAY reached out to social media users who shared the claim for comment.

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There are several explanations for what could be happening in this video, experts said.

While it might not look like it in the video, the snowball is being impacted by the flame, said Govind Rao, a professor of chemical and biochemical engineering at the University of Maryland.

The dark color after burning is from the residual butane fuel's "incomplete combustion," Rao noted.

Said Daniel Weix, a chemistry professor at the University of Wisconsin: "Butane lighters don't burn very cleanly. Like a candle, they will deposit soot onto things."

And the ice can melt without generating visible droplets.

"The ice can go directly to the vapor phase and so the person holding the flame does not see it," he said. "Another explanation is that the melting part that becomes water is drawn into the porous snowball – much like the syrup that is poured onto a snow cone that one enjoys in the summer – so you don't see it."

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Snow also takes longer to melt than one might think, Weix said.

"We all experience this on days like today in Madison. We have been above freezing – it is 40 °outside – but there is still a lot of snow on the ground!" Weix said. "It just takes a while to melt."

If there is any doubt about the material of the snow, people can always perform an at-home experiment and drop the snowball into warm water, which will promptly dissolve the snowball, Rao said.

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that snow isn't real because a lighter appears to burn it. The snow shown in a Facebook video could be going directly into the vapor phase, or the melting portion could be drawn into the center of the snowball, experts said. The dark coloration is from residual butane fuel produced by the lighter.

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