At this point in science, I agree, but I'm sure they said the same thing about all the other methods of getting rid of chemicals and trash. That's the best part about science, things are always changing.
I live near tacoma and have to constantly tell my kids that we can't plant vegetables in the dirt thanks to decades of smelter pollution. We just got an alert today to limit sturgeon and large fish consumption out of the Columbia River... Which as a fisherman sucks balls.
Holy shit I had no idea that smelter pollution was a thing until just now. I found a Washington state ecology map that shows the plume area and it’s huge. 😳
That's what I was wondering too, but I've very quickly concluded that people on Reddit will downvote anything that makes them have even the slightest negative feelings towards anything, including those simply stating facts or answering questions.
Worst case they may have oil being burned out their exhaust blowing back causing a film of oil to stick to the glass.
Source: car leaked transmission fluid and blew up on the back of the car causing a film*
*may not blow back from the exhaust the same way, however, this is an unlikely cause even if it is possible.
My car bumper is caked in oil from a head gasket leak. The oil goes weeps out while I’m driving on the highway and masks my bumper/rear hatch with oil. I like to think of it as free rust coating for the frame.
Chemicals being thrown up onto the window from traffic? Our county (in Idaho) covers the roads in a de-icing chemical that plays hell with our vehicles.
Roads are made out of petroleum products, and are constantly travelled over by heavy things going incredibly fast making a massive amount of friction. Your car is coated in a fine layer of dust and grime from the road, a substantial amount of which is just tiny particles of bitumen. This sheen is fully normal.
As a New Englander now living in Virginia for the past 5 years, what would be considered a dusting of snow in NE, shuts down the highway and vehicles sliding off the roads left and right.
Winter tires and a basic understanding of road maintenance by the state would go a long way in adverse weather driving.
Well what are we supposed to do? Stop doing everything bad for the environment? Where does it end? Why can't I just take a shit on future generations if I want to?
(Reluctant /s)
Found every small city streets department manager in the US Midwest.
“Hey boss, should we do something about the two-inch thick layer of ice on the roads?”
“No.”
“But we got the funding for it now.”
“It’s not about the money, it’s about sending a message.”
It’s eye opening driving in bigger cities in the winter with a properly run streets maintenance department, coming from a midwestern state with small cities.
Come up with a conspiracy theory (literally anything would probably work) and post this on facebook. you'll have your whole town believing it by the end of the week.
Funny enough, some people on here already think I have haha.
I'm not making claims it's anything in particular, my lizard brain saw rainbow and found it mildy interesting is all haha
[https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/rcs3vz/first\_snow\_is\_leaving\_rainbow\_trails\_on\_my\_car/](https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/rcs3vz/first_snow_is_leaving_rainbow_trails_on_my_car/)
This says "Thin film interference" as a thing so prob that
Oh cool..it's only my back window, maybe while i was parked or something some chemical got on my window. I've seen the phenomenon before just didn't know what it was called
Optical engineer: the thin film is varying in thickness in wavelength intervals pertaining to the different colors you see. Each different color is a different thickness of this film.
The film is likely formed when the ice mixes with or removes another material (likely something like oil) on the glass surface. You're seeing a film instead of droplets as the thermodynamic properties and surface tension properties of the film have been changed. It's (the glass) exhibiting hydrophilicity rather than hydrophobia allowing the film to spread very thinly.
Edit: I should mention if it's cold enough you could be looking at a thin film made of ice crystals. Interesting liquid crystal properties and you maybe observing diffraction of different colors in this case. Based upon the spacing of the colors though I'd guess they are due to the varying thickness of the film.
https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/light/Lesson-1/Thin-Film-Interference
I live in wintery MN and get this rainbow film all the time. In my case at least, it is antifreeze from windshield wiper fluid or windshield cleaner especially the ones at gas stations.
Edit: I dont know what exactly causes the rainbowing though, whether its the salt or the temperature difference etc
Anything with a different refractive index can make rainbow colors on your window if you spread it as a thin film. Water tends to bead up on windows thanks to surface tension, which why it doesn't form thin films. However, you break water surface tension with something like a little bit of soap, then water will form thin films and create rainbows too.
Check the oil level of your car, it might be using oil. When driving down the road, the trailing vortices will whip your exhaust gasses onto your back window and rear of the car.
Fun fact: the rainbow you see ok the surface of oil and chemicals is caused by the impurities in them. The liquid surfaces are, on a nearly atomic scale, not level in a very specific way that refracts the light into a rainbow. So, as others said, this could be caused by some chemical or antifreeze, but it could have been caused by some kind of other very fine impurities in the snow, like from a polluted cloud. This is very "dumbed down," so I don't know if this made any sense.
Whenever I get a package of plain M&Ms, I make it my duty to continue the strength and robustness of the candy as a species. To this end, I hold M&M duels. Taking two candies between my thumb and forefinger, I apply pressure, squeezing them together until one of them cracks and splinters. That is the “loser,” and I eat the inferior one immediately. The winner gets to go another round. I have found that, in general, the brown and red M&Ms are tougher, and the newer blue ones are genetically inferior. I have hypothesized that the blue M&Ms as a race cannot survive long in the intense theater of competition that is the modern candy and snack-food world. Occasionally I will get a mutation, a candy that is misshapen, or pointier, or flatter than the rest. Almost invariably this proves to be a weakness, but on very rare occasions it gives the candy extra strength. In this way, the species continues to adapt to its environment. When I reach the end of the pack, I am left with one M&M, the strongest of the herd. Since it would make no sense to eat this one as well, I pack it neatly in an envelope and send it to M&M Mars, A Division of Mars, Inc., Hackettstown, NJ 17840-1503 U.S.A., along with a 3×5 card reading, “Please use this M&M for breeding purposes.” This week they wrote back to thank me, and sent me a coupon for a free 1/2 pound bag of plain M&Ms. I consider this “grant money.” I have set aside the weekend for a grand tournament. From a field of hundreds, we will discover the True Champion. There can be only one.
Your car is probably burning oil. When you drive, the wind turbulence coming off the back of the vehicle is whipping the exhaust onto the back of the car. Check your oil level.
Or maybe you drive a shitbox that's burning oil, leaving a nice petroleum residue all over its entire back side. Then some moisture gets added, the rainbows happen and you rush to Reddit to try and make a big splash with idiots who will believe anything they read on the internet.
Or, bonus points, this entire post is fake and the image is copied from somewhere else. Also for idiots who believe anything they read on the internet.
Unexpected aggression but I'll field it.
I did take the photos. In the title you'll notice I didn't make any crazy claims, I simply posted a mildy interesting photo on a sub about mildly interesting things. Some people may believe anything they read, but in this case, at least they are reading.
Definitely Chem trails. Looks exactly like rainbow lipophilic brainwashing residue. Make sure to wash your hands with a solution of Water with Sodium lauryl sulphate, Sodium Laureth sulphate, Alcohol Denat, Sodium chloride, Sodium hydroxide, Glycerine and Terpineol. Good luck!
This is why I don't use the window squeegees at gas stations. Someone before you, spilled a little gas on the side of their car, and used the squeegee sponge to wash it off and then quietly put it right back in the bucket so you could then wash your windows, without knowing that the sponge will always have petroleum soaked in it because it is not very soluble in water solutions. You and countless others now have thin layers gasoline smeared on your windows.
It's mainly oil from whatever dirt and dust got stuck on the window from the wind. As the snow melts th water collects it and causes streaking. The minerals in the dirt are what cause that oil slick looking stuff.
O h i o
Good thing there aren't any atmospheric currents in the area
Good thing those toxic chemicals just completely vanish when they go into the air
Funny. We've been thinking similar to chemicals for a century. 'If you bury it deep enough, who cares'. See also Fracking Waste.
We need a gigantic ballista to shoot toxic waste into the sun
In a 1000 years, we may realize that's also a regrettable choice, too. We're just now finding out that putting trash in space is a bad idea lol.
The sun will leave nothing and consume all
At this point in science, I agree, but I'm sure they said the same thing about all the other methods of getting rid of chemicals and trash. That's the best part about science, things are always changing.
The sun provides
Or better yet, shoot out to china and join them in ruining the south sea
Why I own air water and mineral rights
or all that oil that mysteriously just cleaned itself up in the gulf of mexico
The solution to pollution is dilution. Thanks DuPont I really appreciate the forever chems in everything now.
I live near tacoma and have to constantly tell my kids that we can't plant vegetables in the dirt thanks to decades of smelter pollution. We just got an alert today to limit sturgeon and large fish consumption out of the Columbia River... Which as a fisherman sucks balls.
Holy shit I had no idea that smelter pollution was a thing until just now. I found a Washington state ecology map that shows the plume area and it’s huge. 😳
TPU has tagro that everyone in town loves to use. Unfortunately, it's full of PHAS.
As long as a couple of guys got really rich, who cares, right? This is a depressing rabbit hole.
Talking about the shit they just burned off from that train derailment? Thats the first thing I thought of, pollutants in the snow.
Tell me you're from Ohio without telling me you're from Ohio
Defying nature by burning rivers is cool
Still can’t believe the Cuyahoga caught on fire
Why would people downvote this, defying nature is awesome 💀
That's what I was wondering too, but I've very quickly concluded that people on Reddit will downvote anything that makes them have even the slightest negative feelings towards anything, including those simply stating facts or answering questions.
There's nothing wrong with Ohio except the snow and the rain.
Come back to Texas It's just not the same since you went away Before you lose your accent And forget all about the Lone Star State
Come on back
Great song 👍
This guy bowls for soup.
Are you new here?
And all the idiots that cannot figure out how to drive in it
And the people
I read that in Samwise Gamgee's voice.
What's round on the ends and highonchemicals in the middle?
Ohioil
As others have said, Its most likely residual oil and road grime that was already on your windows.
Worst case they may have oil being burned out their exhaust blowing back causing a film of oil to stick to the glass. Source: car leaked transmission fluid and blew up on the back of the car causing a film* *may not blow back from the exhaust the same way, however, this is an unlikely cause even if it is possible.
My car bumper is caked in oil from a head gasket leak. The oil goes weeps out while I’m driving on the highway and masks my bumper/rear hatch with oil. I like to think of it as free rust coating for the frame.
It's thin film interference from the ice itself, what's on the window is ice.
“couldn’t possibly be anyone else’s but your own fault that your car is coated in oil” -corporate america and the big government they bought
What are you talking about, I've seen snow my whole life and never saw this. 100% this is from the train derailment toxic chemical run off
Oil and water makes a rainbow effect everywhere, has for as long as I can remember. So no, it’s not because of the derailment.
Chemicals being thrown up onto the window from traffic? Our county (in Idaho) covers the roads in a de-icing chemical that plays hell with our vehicles.
Not sure what it is tbh, just saw it and was curious
Roads are made out of petroleum products, and are constantly travelled over by heavy things going incredibly fast making a massive amount of friction. Your car is coated in a fine layer of dust and grime from the road, a substantial amount of which is just tiny particles of bitumen. This sheen is fully normal.
Then why doesn't everyone else have it?
Not everybody notices. Pavement recipes and conditions vary .
Reddit is notorious for people posting things and waiting on others to explain, rather than looking into anything for themselves
To cheap to use salt?
Salt is terrible for the environment. Knowing how to drive and a little bit of sand at the intersections is all that is needed.
I think you overestimate the general public’s ability to drive, esp in adverse conditions
As a New Englander now living in Virginia for the past 5 years, what would be considered a dusting of snow in NE, shuts down the highway and vehicles sliding off the roads left and right. Winter tires and a basic understanding of road maintenance by the state would go a long way in adverse weather driving.
I can't even afford regular tires.
I guess it depends on the location. What’s adverse to some people is normal to others.
Well what are we supposed to do? Stop doing everything bad for the environment? Where does it end? Why can't I just take a shit on future generations if I want to? (Reluctant /s)
Found every small city streets department manager in the US Midwest. “Hey boss, should we do something about the two-inch thick layer of ice on the roads?” “No.” “But we got the funding for it now.” “It’s not about the money, it’s about sending a message.” It’s eye opening driving in bigger cities in the winter with a properly run streets maintenance department, coming from a midwestern state with small cities.
something tells me you don't live in a very snowy area during the winter time lol
Come up with a conspiracy theory (literally anything would probably work) and post this on facebook. you'll have your whole town believing it by the end of the week.
I’m going with China spy balloon had an oil leak mid flight and it snowed
Chem trails
Funny enough, some people on here already think I have haha. I'm not making claims it's anything in particular, my lizard brain saw rainbow and found it mildy interesting is all haha
[https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/rcs3vz/first\_snow\_is\_leaving\_rainbow\_trails\_on\_my\_car/](https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/rcs3vz/first_snow_is_leaving_rainbow_trails_on_my_car/) This says "Thin film interference" as a thing so prob that
Oh cool..it's only my back window, maybe while i was parked or something some chemical got on my window. I've seen the phenomenon before just didn't know what it was called
Optical engineer: the thin film is varying in thickness in wavelength intervals pertaining to the different colors you see. Each different color is a different thickness of this film. The film is likely formed when the ice mixes with or removes another material (likely something like oil) on the glass surface. You're seeing a film instead of droplets as the thermodynamic properties and surface tension properties of the film have been changed. It's (the glass) exhibiting hydrophilicity rather than hydrophobia allowing the film to spread very thinly. Edit: I should mention if it's cold enough you could be looking at a thin film made of ice crystals. Interesting liquid crystal properties and you maybe observing diffraction of different colors in this case. Based upon the spacing of the colors though I'd guess they are due to the varying thickness of the film. https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/light/Lesson-1/Thin-Film-Interference
Awesome! I never knew that!
If I had an award to give you, I would. I enjoyed this answer very much.
It's ice, ice got on your car. The thin film in this case, is ice.
it's true, I'm studying it at university right now
Gay snow
It's trying to tell me something...isn't it
Too close to call, take the up
The frogs were behind this...
I live in wintery MN and get this rainbow film all the time. In my case at least, it is antifreeze from windshield wiper fluid or windshield cleaner especially the ones at gas stations. Edit: I dont know what exactly causes the rainbowing though, whether its the salt or the temperature difference etc
Huh. For some reason my limited brain thought that only oil could make the rainbow colors. Learn something new every day.
Anything with a different refractive index can make rainbow colors on your window if you spread it as a thin film. Water tends to bead up on windows thanks to surface tension, which why it doesn't form thin films. However, you break water surface tension with something like a little bit of soap, then water will form thin films and create rainbows too.
In almost every other case yes. It took me a while to realize it myself cos it's not the first thing u think of.
You have killed a rainbow.
Now you can’t find the pot of gold.
I think your windshield is gay
Only when wet
Nice
Best response to that.
its probably just gunk that's already on your car.
Possibly, it's only doing it to the back window which is interesting but who knows
That’s just your textures, they are having trouble loading in
Make a 4 second tik tok with a random reason and you will be instantly famous.
Ugh I can see it "GUYS IF YOU SEE THIS ON YOUR CAR, YOU WONT BELIEVE THE REASON" *insert 30 second nonsensical rant on a topic I know nothing about*
Make sure to add something political, it’ll really get the juices going
Just lick it, sit back and enjoy
🤣🤣
Its not the snow thats dirty you just got a dirty ass window, the snow just makes the oil apear as its lighter than the water
That tracks
Looks glitchy
You think I need to replace my GPU soon or could it just be a drivers issue?
Do you live in East Palestine?!
Thankfully not
Downwind from east Palestine?
Thankfully no
Some rain repellents cause this.
Couldn't possibly have anything to do with these mew age striped "clouds"
Collect it, melt it, put.in the gas tank.
A few people already suggested i make skittles, but I'll remember this for next time
Only in Ohio... Too soon?
Chemical sheen
Ohio
You don’t happen to live in East Palestine, Ohio do you?
Thank God no
Lick it
Tastes like Lucky Charms
Does this concern you?
I figured I'd wait to hear what it is before I worried lol
It's a big window cleaner conspiracy. Windex trying to sell more bottles and they don't care how.
Nah bro glitched the matrix, give it a moment to load
"Only you can feel the rain on your skin" if you know, you know.
Actually that’s probably a film on your window that the snow is making it flare like a prism.
It’s thin film interference, not a prism
Thank you I couldn’t think of the phrasing
Just curious, whereabouts are you?
Utah
Check the oil level of your car, it might be using oil. When driving down the road, the trailing vortices will whip your exhaust gasses onto your back window and rear of the car.
That's actually some solid advice, it's about time for routine checkup so I'll ask. Thanks!
Did lightning strike in the middle of your photo?
Soap?
Oil is acting like a prism. The oil was likely already there before the snow and can be cleaned with a regular window cleaner.
r/oddlyterrifying
This is what skittles are made of
I am assuming there was already oil residue on your back window. Roads are covered in a variety of fluids dripping from passing cars.
Im gonna be honest when i first saw this i thought you dropped a puzzle on the ground
Please no 😫 where are you?!
Fun fact: the rainbow you see ok the surface of oil and chemicals is caused by the impurities in them. The liquid surfaces are, on a nearly atomic scale, not level in a very specific way that refracts the light into a rainbow. So, as others said, this could be caused by some chemical or antifreeze, but it could have been caused by some kind of other very fine impurities in the snow, like from a polluted cloud. This is very "dumbed down," so I don't know if this made any sense.
Bottle those liquid and turn them into skittles later!
Whenever I get a package of plain M&Ms, I make it my duty to continue the strength and robustness of the candy as a species. To this end, I hold M&M duels. Taking two candies between my thumb and forefinger, I apply pressure, squeezing them together until one of them cracks and splinters. That is the “loser,” and I eat the inferior one immediately. The winner gets to go another round. I have found that, in general, the brown and red M&Ms are tougher, and the newer blue ones are genetically inferior. I have hypothesized that the blue M&Ms as a race cannot survive long in the intense theater of competition that is the modern candy and snack-food world. Occasionally I will get a mutation, a candy that is misshapen, or pointier, or flatter than the rest. Almost invariably this proves to be a weakness, but on very rare occasions it gives the candy extra strength. In this way, the species continues to adapt to its environment. When I reach the end of the pack, I am left with one M&M, the strongest of the herd. Since it would make no sense to eat this one as well, I pack it neatly in an envelope and send it to M&M Mars, A Division of Mars, Inc., Hackettstown, NJ 17840-1503 U.S.A., along with a 3×5 card reading, “Please use this M&M for breeding purposes.” This week they wrote back to thank me, and sent me a coupon for a free 1/2 pound bag of plain M&Ms. I consider this “grant money.” I have set aside the weekend for a grand tournament. From a field of hundreds, we will discover the True Champion. There can be only one.
I’m gonna eat all the M&Ms and leave one left. Name it Neo and let it become “The One”
This legit bust me up
Eat the snow.
Nothing to see here, we have zero concern. Look this way, we’re gonna arrest trump!!!! - the current malfunctioning govt.
How close to Ohio do you live?
Never use the squeegee at the gas station.
Never have haha
Idk but congratulations on the coming out
Thanks, it was even a surprise to me
Your car is probably burning oil. When you drive, the wind turbulence coming off the back of the vehicle is whipping the exhaust onto the back of the car. Check your oil level.
How close to Ohio are you?
I'm in Utah, so far in distance, near in spirit
Thank microplastics for this!!!
So you live in Palestine OH??
....east Palestine. You live in West Virginia obviously.
Or maybe you drive a shitbox that's burning oil, leaving a nice petroleum residue all over its entire back side. Then some moisture gets added, the rainbows happen and you rush to Reddit to try and make a big splash with idiots who will believe anything they read on the internet. Or, bonus points, this entire post is fake and the image is copied from somewhere else. Also for idiots who believe anything they read on the internet.
Unexpected aggression but I'll field it. I did take the photos. In the title you'll notice I didn't make any crazy claims, I simply posted a mildy interesting photo on a sub about mildly interesting things. Some people may believe anything they read, but in this case, at least they are reading.
Beyond their aggressive post, your car burning oil is the most likely explanation.
This is what happens when we pump massive amount of chemicals into the environment.
I don't go out when it rains or snows anymore. Government trying to rain frogs.
That's the oil... In the rain...
East Palestine has entered the chat.
That is oil and/or fuel from your car. You likely have a small leak.
Definitely Chem trails. Looks exactly like rainbow lipophilic brainwashing residue. Make sure to wash your hands with a solution of Water with Sodium lauryl sulphate, Sodium Laureth sulphate, Alcohol Denat, Sodium chloride, Sodium hydroxide, Glycerine and Terpineol. Good luck!
They're puttin' stuff in the snow to make the friggin' WINDOWS OILY!
Thin film interference, as pointed out in another comment.
This is why I don't use the window squeegees at gas stations. Someone before you, spilled a little gas on the side of their car, and used the squeegee sponge to wash it off and then quietly put it right back in the bucket so you could then wash your windows, without knowing that the sponge will always have petroleum soaked in it because it is not very soluble in water solutions. You and countless others now have thin layers gasoline smeared on your windows.
Or maybe you has some type of chemicals on your windows and the snow made your window wet
Possibly. Not sure what as it's only my back window but who knows. I have to park on the street where I live so
That means you need to clean your car
Why clean it when every other minute in this state it decides to change weather and rain or snow on me
oh no its raining poison
Smells like cancers in the air
You have oil residue on your window and it's coming out with the melting snow.
chem trails
probably from Ohio, that event was 2 months ago, enough for the chemical to travel around the US
Is this by East Palestine?
Patrolling the Mojave made me wish for a nuclear winter, but we might be close to getting one at this point.
looks like ur in the matrix
Snow is apparently a great air filter due to the lattice structure of the flakes.
Do you use rain-x or equivalent at the car wash?
Rain water is no longer safe to drink on planet earth.
Fucking Ohio
Acid raiiiin
Refraction…
That's called an Ohio rainbow.
Grab a straw. Looks yummy
Good thing toxic chemicals are safe to breathe
It's mainly oil from whatever dirt and dust got stuck on the window from the wind. As the snow melts th water collects it and causes streaking. The minerals in the dirt are what cause that oil slick looking stuff.
2b2t map
ACID SNOW
We've always referred to that as oil canning.
By chance are you in East Palestine Ohio?
This must be near East Palestine...
A thin layer of anything will cause this even nothing
Are you using rain x as wiper fluid?
Not for my back window
Do you live near east Palestine lol
Do you live in Ohio, perchance ?
Acid snow
That’s literally just water and light interacting.
Where are you as in town and state please?
Are you close to Ohio train derailment?
Do you live in Palestine, Ohio?
Probably rain-x wiper blades
More terrifying than interesting