Frozen Music

As everyone knows, if you break the ice off the top of a puddle and kick it across the parking lot, it makes a noise like a rather musical ceramic tile sliding across the same surface. This works best if the ice is dry and about an inch thick. What’s less obvious, but more fascinating, is that as you continue to kick the ice, and pieces chip off it, the sound rises in pitch through wind-chimes, broken glass, and the edge of human hearing. Then the smallish piece that’s left makes about the same noise as a rock.