Toronto·Video

'Icicle Atlas' compiled by U of T professor Stephen Morris

Despite the recent abundance of ice in Toronto and around the country, one physics professor is making even more, in a lab.

Fascination with freezing leads Toronto researchers to build an icicle machine

Ice, ice professor

10 years ago
Duration 1:50
UofT professor Stephen Morris describes his research into icicles

Despite the recent abundance of ice in Toronto and elsewhere around the country, one physics professor is making even more, in a lab. 

Prof. Stephen Morris of the University of Toronto has spent decades studying icicles and, together with his graduate students, has built a one-of-a-kind machine to make their own. 

"They are, to some extent, like snowflakes," Morris told CBC News. "Every one is different in detail."

Morris and his team have made more than 230 icicles — at different temperatures, with various kinds of water and other conditions — and posted photos of the results in an online "atlas."

Ice is an important field of research, Morris said, because it touches on many other areas of study and business. "There's sea ice, there's ice on power lines and airplanes and all sorts of things." 

Click the video for the full story.

From a report by Philip Lee-Shanok