Electrification accompanying melting of ice and snow

Attempts to measure the electrification produced by the melting of ice and snow, known as the Dinger‐Gunn effect, have been made with three different experimental arrangements. In one of these snow crystals were grown and melted under very clean conditions inside a diffusion cloud chamber. The results of the three experiments are consistent in failing to detect a separation of charge and in indicating that any charge produced was < 10−2 e.s.u./g or two orders of magnitude smaller than reported by Dinger and Gunn. This result was unaffected by varying the purity of the ice, its air content and the rates of freezing and melting, and the pH value of the water. Accordingly, it is concluded that charging associated with the melting of snow or hail is unlikely to be an important feature in the electrification of clouds and precipitation.