SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - In an attempt to amaze her Australian visitors last year, Samantha Stuart threw boiling water into the -30 C Yellowknife air, creating a cloud of ice crystals.

Yellowknifer Samantha Stuart became famous last week after her YouTube video showing her throwing boiling water into -30 C temperatures reached more than 2.2 million hits. - Nicole Veerman/NNSL photo

Although a video of her science experiment, complete with the sound of her friends' excited reactions, was posted on YouTube more than a year ago, last week, it went viral, attracting attention from people across the globe.

"I thought 30,000 (views) was big," she said on Thursday. "Now I'm just flabbergasted that it has reached 1.4 million."

As of Sunday morning, the video had reached more than 2.2 million views and more than 1,500 comments.

"I only posted it on YouTube to share with my friends and family and their friends and family, and here we are a year later talking about this again," said the marketing partnerships co-ordinator for NWT Tourism.

In the last week, the video has been posted on the Weather Network's and CNN's websites, played on national television in Fiji and Romania, and it's been linked to numerous blogs.

Stuart said she doesn't know who linked to the video first, but whoever it was, they have created a lot of debate and discussion.

"Some people think it's outright fake, that there's some kind of chemical that I put in the water," she said. "And then other people want me to experiment more, like throw coffee in the air or put colour in the water and see if that takes form."

There has also been a lively discussion over what happens to the water when it disperses in the air.

Stuart titled the video "Evaporating Water in -30 C in Yellowknife, NWT," but admits she doesn't know the science behind the trick.

Brent Simmons, a science teacher at St. Patrick High School, said there are three simple explanations that are all part and parcel to how the scalding water turns to ice.

"When you have the hot water and (when you) throw it in the air, because it's boiling, it is going to give off steam (and) when that warm vapour hits the cold air, it loses heat drastically and it causes that white fog," he said.

Another reason the reaction happens is because of the boiling process, which removes oxygen and carbon dioxide from the water, Simmons said.

"By getting rid of the gases, essentially what you're doing is increasing the freezing point of water, so it doesn't have to wait until it gets down to zero anymore, so the water can freeze quicker."

Simmons' last explanation is that boiled water is less viscous or "sticky" than cold water, so the water molecules separate better and faster than cold water.

"Therefore you have a larger total surface area that's being exposed to that cold temperature, and those little droplets are freezing after they get rid of all their heat."

Whatever the science, Stuart's video has inspired people across the globe to try the trick.

She has even received a video response from someone in Russia.

"I think it's great," she said. "Hopefully the end result will be more attention to the North."

Stuart is planning to make more videos, although she doesn't expect them to get as much attention as the first.

Go to www.nnsl.com to see the video.

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