How exactly do snow cannons work?

Question

Yeah, ok, this is a bit random but...I went skiing in Sestriere in February and the snow wasn't too good. They had the snow cannons on (I have been skiing numerous time but have never seen them on ^_^). Me and my mum were trying to work out how they work but we couldn't figure it out. We thought that they got water and somehow froze it as it sprayed out... Am I right?

Answer 1

The mix air and water and that freezes to make snow.  Thats all their is to it.  They just get the proper mixture of water and air to get the perfect snow quality.

Answer 2

Water under high pressure is forced into a cold air stream that then will freeze into small very, very wet droplets that will be skiable as long as you stay out of the stream.

Answer 3

Its a combination of high-pressure water and air being blasted out of the nozzle of the "snow gun" (ive never heard it called a snow cannon before...but Im an American.)  This mixture comes out at a very high-speed, producing a fine mist.  That mist freezes as soon as it hits the cold air and falls as man made snow (its actually ice crystals that you are skiing on)...thats why its faster and compacts easily, making the ideal base for a race course.  The density of the snow can be altered by adjusting the speed at which the water and air comes out of the gun, the amount of water used, and the weather conditions while the snow is being made.  The ice crystals collect into huge mounds, that are rock solid.  The snow cats then move the snow around the trails to places that get alot of traffic, are low on snow, or are going to be used for a race setup.  Ive always thought that groomed trails of man-made snow are some of the best to rip big GS turns, and to get some speed going.  If you like skiing pow, man-made is not for you.

Answer 4

Well, basically, there are two commonly-used methods of making snow. They use either a 1)fan gun or a 2) nozzle or Rat gun.

1) A fan gun works when pressurized (and prefferably cooled) water is let out of many nozzles (anywhere from 3-1000) around the rim and a fan in the back of the gun propels the water droplets out of the barrel. This gets the snow to where it has to go as it freezes in midair.

2) A Rat or nozzle gun works when pressurized air and water are combined inside of the barrel. The mixture comes out so fast that more snow (although it is of lesser quality) can be produced than a fan gun.

-Both typed of guns are attached to hoses where the air/water comes in from a pump or air house.

-Nozzle guns are manufactured by Ratnik Industries Inc.

-Some manufacturers of fan guns are Lenko, Snow Machines, Inc., and Areco.

-For more information on snowguns and how you can even build your own, visit www.snowguns.com.

Hope this Helps.