You MUST Skip Stones Across A Frozen Pond Or Lake

This dude reacts after, for the first time in his life,
he skipped a stone across a frozen lake.  He's
obviously amazed at the sound. 

As yesterday's weather proved in Vermont, there's usually not much  joy or action or beauty during November in the North Country.  

Typical of this time of year, it was overcast and dark and dreary and quiet and gray. A few snowflakes descended through the chilly air from time to time. The forests, now devoid of leaves, was as gray as the depressing sky.

So you've got to find the cool things. Here's one thing I have done, especially as a kid, that you should go out and do, too.

Ponds and quiet coves in lakes are beginning to freeze this time of year. Please don't walk out on the ice, as it's way too thin to support you. You'll fall through.

Instead, pick up a rock and skip it across the frozen surface. Many of us Vermonters and other northerners have done this, and it's rewarding for the cool sounds it makes. If you have not given yourself the pleasure of doing this, please do it!

If you want a preview, watch this guy's reaction when he tries this for the first time in his life.

Live Science explains why you get sci-fi sounds when you skip a rock out onto a frozen lake:

".......The lake ice acts like a vibrating plate. When the stone hits, the impact launches a bending wave           (also called a flexural wave) in the ice. The bending wave travels at supersonic speed and continuously radiates sound into the air while it zips forward (away from the impact).......Because short waves travel faster than long waves, the higher pitches, or frequencies, hit your ear first."

So, you hear the higher pitch sounds separated from the lower pitches that are combined when the rock hits the ice. You need to be a little distance away from impact. If you drop the rock on the ice next to you, you just get a boring thud. So give the rock a good throw when you try this.

I will surely find a frozen pond soon to do this, as I often do. I'm still a kid at heart.

Here's a video of what you'll hear: