Last Wednesday, December 15, when I wake up just before 7 am, the thermometer outside the window of my room signed -12 degrees Celsius and immediately my thought went to Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007), an American science fiction writer known for his humanist beliefs, who dealt with a substance called ‘ice IX’ in his 1963 novel Cat’s Cradle. ‘Ice IX’ is an alternative structure made of ice that freezes at 46 degrees Celsius and can turn the whole world into a huge snowball.
Of course, this is just fiction. But that does not mean there is only one kind of ice. In 1900, Russian chemist-physicist Gustav Tammann (1861-1938) discovered that a new form of ice was created when normal ice was subjected to a pressure of 3500 atmosphere. This new ice, ‘ice II’ and ‘ice III’, are much denser than the normal ice. The American physicist Percy Bridgman (1882-1961) of Harvard University, the Nobel laureate in Physics in 1946, also found ice with a different structure than normal ice. It is understood that his discovery, ‘ice VI’, remains a solid until the temperature goes up to at least 60 degrees Celsius. This creates hot ice!
Our understanding of ice has evolved to the point where we even have 'ice IX’. It is created when ‘ice III’ is cooled rapidly. Fortunately, we need not worry about the whole world freezing because the real ‘ice IX’ has a different freezing point than that described in Vonnegut’s novel.
In daily life, there is no need to talk about different kinds of ice. For most people, ice is ice and nothing else. At most, we recognize the first freeze of the season. According to the Korean lunar calendar, the first freeze of the season is normally observed at around sosol (소설), which this year fell on November 22. It is a signal that winter is here. In the old days, therefore, people hurriedly prepared for winter in anticipation for the arrival of the day. In Nonggawolryongga (農家月令歌, 농가월령가), a song about farming seasons, there is a verse that depicts the workload of a farmer during this season:
Pick white radishes from the field and prepare the kimchi
Repair the cracks in the ondol and fill the holes in the wall
Raste paper on your sliding door and plug the rat holes.
The first freeze of the season is often used as a poetic device symbolizing a time limit or decay. Chong Ho-sung (鄭昊昇, 정호승) wrote in his poem Namhangang (南漢江,남한강):
In the middle of the frozen Namhangang
there is a boat.
It wished to go somewhere before the first freeze of the season
to a far-away place.
In its own conceit, it dreamed of the offing
but it was frozen and held up there.
Poet Ko Hyong-ryol (고형렬) wrote in Oh, the First Freeze of the Season:
The first freeze of the season
has the power to hold my heart and push it hard:
It is the end of foolishness and desire.
It was reported that this year the first freeze of the season was observed at Taegwallyong (대관령, 832 m) and Mount Sorak (雪嶽山, 설악산, 1708 m) early on the morning of September 28—more than 10 days earlier compared to last year. That seems impossible to me because at the time I still had my summer clothes and am waiting for the news of the arrival of the colourful autumn leaves. But the changing of the seasons follows a natural process of decay and rebirth. We, too, must let things go in order to evolve.
Of course, this is just fiction. But that does not mean there is only one kind of ice. In 1900, Russian chemist-physicist Gustav Tammann (1861-1938) discovered that a new form of ice was created when normal ice was subjected to a pressure of 3500 atmosphere. This new ice, ‘ice II’ and ‘ice III’, are much denser than the normal ice. The American physicist Percy Bridgman (1882-1961) of Harvard University, the Nobel laureate in Physics in 1946, also found ice with a different structure than normal ice. It is understood that his discovery, ‘ice VI’, remains a solid until the temperature goes up to at least 60 degrees Celsius. This creates hot ice!
Our understanding of ice has evolved to the point where we even have 'ice IX’. It is created when ‘ice III’ is cooled rapidly. Fortunately, we need not worry about the whole world freezing because the real ‘ice IX’ has a different freezing point than that described in Vonnegut’s novel.
In daily life, there is no need to talk about different kinds of ice. For most people, ice is ice and nothing else. At most, we recognize the first freeze of the season. According to the Korean lunar calendar, the first freeze of the season is normally observed at around sosol (소설), which this year fell on November 22. It is a signal that winter is here. In the old days, therefore, people hurriedly prepared for winter in anticipation for the arrival of the day. In Nonggawolryongga (農家月令歌, 농가월령가), a song about farming seasons, there is a verse that depicts the workload of a farmer during this season:
Pick white radishes from the field and prepare the kimchi
Repair the cracks in the ondol and fill the holes in the wall
Raste paper on your sliding door and plug the rat holes.
The first freeze of the season is often used as a poetic device symbolizing a time limit or decay. Chong Ho-sung (鄭昊昇, 정호승) wrote in his poem Namhangang (南漢江,남한강):
In the middle of the frozen Namhangang
there is a boat.
It wished to go somewhere before the first freeze of the season
to a far-away place.
In its own conceit, it dreamed of the offing
but it was frozen and held up there.
Poet Ko Hyong-ryol (고형렬) wrote in Oh, the First Freeze of the Season:
The first freeze of the season
has the power to hold my heart and push it hard:
It is the end of foolishness and desire.
It was reported that this year the first freeze of the season was observed at Taegwallyong (대관령, 832 m) and Mount Sorak (雪嶽山, 설악산, 1708 m) early on the morning of September 28—more than 10 days earlier compared to last year. That seems impossible to me because at the time I still had my summer clothes and am waiting for the news of the arrival of the colourful autumn leaves. But the changing of the seasons follows a natural process of decay and rebirth. We, too, must let things go in order to evolve.
Giorgio Olivotto
Seoul, Korea
December 19, 2010
Seoul, Korea
December 19, 2010
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