Life

Does Anyone Else Feel Like They're Melting?

For the life of me I can’t figure out why, but like everyone else out there in Internetland, I find this time-lapse video of ice cream melting absolutely mesmerizing. Seriously, you guys. I just watched it three times in a row, and I’m about to queue it up for a fourth once I finish writing about it.

Created by YouTuber Ilsoo Yang, the video sees a scoop of vanilla coated with blue sugar (or maybe glitter), some pistachio topped with blue and white sprinkles, a strawberry hot fudge sundae, a few ice cream bars, and a huge variety of other flavors and topping combinations meet their untimely ends at the hands of soaring temperatures. Set to “All Is There” by Chroma Sparks, it’s the perfect representation for how I’ve felt for most of this stupidly hot summer; it’s undoubtedly how I will continue to feel as we work our way through the two hottest months of the year, too.

But lo! What is this sorcery? Midway through the video, the fallen freezies reform themselves! Man, I wish I was capable of doing that. If I had a super power, I’d want it to be the Power of Unmelting — whatever that means when you apply it to humans.

For those of you who are interested in the science going on here (because ice cream is the most delicious science there is, of course), Mental Floss gave us this nice little refresher:

“Whether something is a solid, liquid, or gas depends on how much energy it has. Water vapor has a lot of energy (molecules moving very fast and far apart), while ice has very little (molecules moving slowly and close together). Energy (heat) likes to travel to places where it's needed, so if you put an ice cube in the sun, it absorbs energy and eventually melts and becomes water. On the flip side, if you put water in a freezer, the energy leaves the water to enter the colder space and the water freezes.”

The more you know, right? There’s also an explanation for why some of the treats seen in the video melt a little differently than others; the short version is that how much fat something has in it plays a big role in how fast it’ll melt. Low fat treats need to absorb a lot more energy before they can start melting.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go see if I can hunt down a popsicle or something… right after I watch the video again.

Image: Ilsoo Yang/YouTube