Bill Gates 'Fake Snow' Debunked: 'It's Just Science'

Over the past days, Texans went trending over what they call as 'fake snow' during the massive snow storm, happened last week. Videos on different social media platforms, especially on TikTok, were posted related to this conspiracy theory.

The theory suggests that the government or even Microsoft founder Bill Gates, formulated 'fake snow' to rain in Texas. Here's how experts explain it.

'Texas fake snow'?

(Photo : (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images))
Mark Maybou scraps snow into a bucket to melt it into water on February 19, 2021 in Austin, Texas. Mr. Maybou was using the water to flush his toilets since his home has no running water. Winter storm Uri brought historic cold weather causing people to lose their water as pipes broke throughout the area.

If you have been active on TikTok, you might probably bump in one of the Texans videos, showing them holding a snowball on their palms, while heating it with lighter.

The heat coming from the lighter is put below the ice, to show whether it will melt or not. Most videos show that the snowball isn't melting-- like any ordinary ice, instead, the snowball is turning into a burnt metal piece with black color.

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The two videos, above, mentioned that billionaire and Microsoft founder Bill Gates is the one behind this conspiracy plot. Even US President Joe Biden was mentioned in some videos, saying that he planned Texans to experience the horrible snow storm. 

The real truth behind 'fake snow' theory

(Photo : (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images))
American businessman and philanthropist Bill Gates makes a speech at the Malaria Summit at 8 Northumberland Avenue on April 18, 2018 in London, England. The Malaria Summit is being held today to urge Commonwealth leaders to commit to halve cases of malaria across the Commonwealth within the next five years with a target to 650,000 lives.

First off, Gates has no connections in the said theory. Some even called him as the 'scapegoat' whenever people have weird theories in their mind. 

Second, the explanation behind the 'not melting' snowball under heat, is a simple science. 

This is happening due to a process called 'sublimation.' Science writer Phil Plait explained this theory, way back in 2014.

"As the snow melts, the remaining snow absorbs the water. That's why it doesn't appear to drip; the snowball becomes a slushball," he said. "Lots of people made videos showing the snowball not dripping so it looks like it's not actually melting, but this is a classic case of confirmation bias. They only tested this part way; they didn't finish the test by letting the snowball actually melt!"

As explanation for the black marks on the snowball, Plait said that the color is a reaction from the lighter itself. The material has called butane, which is a hydrocarbon, a molecule made up of carbon and hydrogen.  

Now, that's the explanation of it. 

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