On a hot day, a car pulled up to a gas station. The passengers got out to stretch their legs while the attendant prepared to fill the tank. Suddenly, a piercing whistle pierced the air. Instinctively, people turned their faces toward the sky, alert and confused.
Before they could grasp what was happening, a chunk of ice weighing about 110 pounds crashed into a tree, sending shards flying in all directions.
Once the initial shock wore off, the witnesses began to discuss the bizarre event. Some speculated it was the result of a nuclear explosion, while others argued it was simply a gigantic hailstone.
In reality, it was a piece of ice that had broken off from an airplane flying into Rome. The aircraft had been cruising at a high altitude and had accumulated ice. As it descended into warmer air, the ice melted slightly, and a gust of wind broke off a chunk that fell onto the gas station, narrowly missing the attendant.
In the American state of Wisconsin, there lived a boy named Roger Jeyra. One day, while walking on his lawn, a piece of ice suddenly fell from the sky, shattered upon impact, and the two pieces scattered.
The boy was astonished: how could there be ice in August? He found some sort of container and collected the ice pieces, but by the time he got home, they had melted. Pouring the water into a bottle, Roger sealed it and sent it along with a letter to Professor John Budhue in California.
The scientist was intrigued by the unusual package. His first thought was that the ice had broken off from an airplane. However, it turned out that no planes had flown over that area of Wisconsin that day. Perhaps it was a three-kilogram hailstone that had fallen from a thundercloud?
But a chemical analysis revealed that the water sent by Roger contained chlorine, cyanide, and ammonia, with calcium and magnesium present in very small amounts. This composition was completely unlike rainwater, which typically contains high levels of sodium, lime, and magnesium, and has a slightly acidic reaction. In contrast, the Wisconsin water was alkaline.
The more the scientist pondered the mystery of the Wisconsin water, the more perplexing its origin became. According to some data, Saturn’s rings are made up of chunks of ice. It is also believed that comets are ice fragments surrounded by clouds of gas…
Perhaps the piece of ice that fell at Roger’s feet came from the depths of outer space.