Snowmaking

1992/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Teknologia

In many ski places you can see snow cannons. When snow is missing they produce snow for skiing. However, the snow generated by these cannons does not usually have to do with snow, that is, they look like white pieces. When skiing you can see the hardness of the track. But there are other cannons that produce snow dust.

How do you get it?

Snow production only requires air and water. But if you add the catalyst called "Snomax", the snow production of the cannons can grow between 20% and 100%. It is a snomax protein obtained from the bacteria "Pseudomenas syringae". This bacterium is widespread in nature and in air, in soil, in water or in plants infinitesimal amounts can be found. It does not harm health and is in yogurts, cheeses, bread or beers.

The main feature is that it increases the crystallization capacity of the water, so the amount of snow that can be obtained from a liter of water is greater, although the temperature is higher than 0 °C or less than 10 °C.

The bacteriological proteins of "Pseudomenas syringae" are grown in the laboratory in fermentation tanks. The "biological soup" obtained is filtered and dried and converted into a pill. These pills merely have an effective product to obtain snow.

The "Snomax" before use is dissolved in water (obtaining a concentrated dissolution) and mixed with water that will then be transformed into snow. A box of 2.3 kg can cause 3.8 million liters of water. Therefore, every drop of water coming out of the canyon has "Snomax".

All health and environmental organizations in the US have consented to the use of "Snomax", a product that poses no risk to humans, vegetation, animals or groundwater.