I have received an interesting question through our webby and wondered if anyone could provide any insights;


Hi, I'm wondering if I can pose you a really random question in the hope you can answer - from someone who does't know anything about caves!

My question is, is it ever possible, in an ice cave scenario, that the ice can form so smooth on a surface, that that surface is rendered reflective?

And that is my question.



Hope you can help.

Best regards,

Colin=

i would imagine that it would but im sure tim could ask his MATE ROBBY SHONE, who has photographed plenty of them

I think it is unlikely that you could get a complete reflection from ice as it is formed of separate crystals, each of which has its own refractive index, which I believe varies depending on the alignment of the individual crystals, ice which has been compressed, which would be the case where ice caves form, will have the crystals further deformed, so any light entering the matrix of crystals would be scattered.
I believe the best chance of a reflection in an ice cave would be in the thin layer of liquid water which would line the wall of the cave, as it forms, this would have a different refractive index to the ice, so there is a possibility that a reflecion could form at the interface, but as light passes through both water, and ice, it would not be a complete reflection.

F..k me Doug you are one clever Tw.t its a pity you you didnt have all this clever shit when you grew your sprouts cause they would have been as big as your balls, ha ha

In nature anything is possible. Just look at any cave system, the design is beyond any human imagination.
Likewise surface features have such a range of variety that it seems that nature is trying to fool us by creating shapes and textures we can't believe.

However, IF nature did create a well polished reflective sheet of ice in a cave then be sure it would not stay that way for very long. It may be that a good reflection can be seen at a low angle on wet ice. the lower the angle of observation the better the reflection. Hence a warm tar mac road can create a mirage reflection.

Big sprouts are horrid. Small sprouts are the most delicious. Wise people pick out all the smallest sprouts from the green grocers.

But of course, the reflection, at a low angle, is actually derived from the interface between the water layer and the air in the cave which have different refractive indices.

Simple answer is yes providing it has a solid colour back otherwise the light will just go THROUGH the ice as opposed to being reflected

'Mirrors need to be smooth so that the light is reflected goes straight back to where it came from, instead of being scattered in a different direction.

Most mirrors in our everyday life have three layers. The bottom layer is a dark, protective layer. The middle layer, the most important part, is made of a metal, usually aluminum (just like soda pop cans). The top layer is glass, because its clear and it protects the smooth aluminum layer. '

QED