The Finger of Death

The notion of freezing an enemy with a weapon is a trope often explored in literature and film, perhaps most frequently in the realm of comics.

Most famous is Mr. Freeze, portrayed in 1997’s Batman & Robin by Arnold Schwarzenegger, but this character isn’t even DC’s only frosty foe. Captain Cold wields an ice gun to slow down the Flash. Marvel doesn’t let DC have all the fun, as Iceman is a founding member of the X-Men, and Blizzard likes to come at Iron Man.

Disney’s Elsa can manipulate Frozen water, while Despicable Me‘s Gru utilizes a freeze ray so he doesn’t have to wait in line for coffee.

Mortal Kombat’s Sub-Zero can dish out fatalities with ice blasts, while Link in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its sequel can equip a Frostspear or a Frostblade to stop bokoblins temporarily.

Jadis, the White Witch in C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series, loves to make other characters frosty with a wave of a wand.

This fanciful ability is a vivid tool for creators. It harnesses elemental powers, always an imagination activator, and unlocks the potent plot device of physical incapacitation.

Many times, nature can provide real examples of some of our most incredible fictions.

The US Air Force recently commissioned a professor at the University of Virginia to develop a freeze ray.

Don’t worry, this device isn’t intended as a weapon (yet). Utilizing the attributes of plasma, the theoretical instrument would be used to cool electronics in the high atmosphere or space, where vacuums make the process of spontaneous temperature reduction much harder than on Earth.

While this freezing gun can work within the bounds of physics, it’s still just a potential tool.

When it comes to shooting icy fingers of death, though, Mother Nature herself is already out of the lab and into the field.

The illustration above depicts the formation of a phenomenon known as a brinicle.

This term is a portmanteau of “brine” and “icicle.” Also called ice stalactites, brinicles develop from sea ice in the polar oceans.

The shafts spawn thanks to an unusual attribute of water. When it becomes ice, water expels impurities within its crystals. We don’t often encounter this characteristic, as the ice cubes we make in our kitchens usually come from relatively pure water. The ocean, however, is full of salt. If temperatures allow for the creation of ice, the water lattices give most of the salt marching orders. As a result, compared to the water, sea ice is nearly fresh.

The salt exits as brine. Two important features of brine kick in next. First, the freezing point of brine is lower than that of water, so when brine leaves the ice, it does so as a supercooled liquid. Brine is also denser than water, which means it sinks. This duo forms a brine channel that plummets like a frosty snake.

The water surrounding the brine channel is less concentrated with salt, so its freezing temperature is higher than the supercooled pipe. Water that contacts the channel begins to freeze, forming a frozen tube through which brine flows.

This interaction forms the brinicle.

While this natural happening is undoubtedly interesting, it doesn’t sound particularly deadly. Icicles form from elevated frozen water all the time, and they don’t often become killers. We discovered brinicles in the middle of the 20th century, but we didn’t film one growing until 2011. When we finally saw them in action, the finger of death seemed to be a perfect nickname. Check out this footage:

Sealife under the brinicle, often starfish and urchins, becomes encased in a hoary tomb.

This sort of instant death from water is terrifying, unless you’re Mr. Freeze.

Fortunately, having this finger of death reach the seabed is rather rare. If the water around the pipe is too salty, it won’t freeze; if the depth of the water is too high, the icicle might snap under its own weight; if the ice above is moving, or the water features a current, the finger could shatter.

These conditions can save the poor starfish from becoming frozen, as if from nowhere.

Humans decked in Mr. Freeze-style cryo-suits – aka wet suits – can film the finger of death and live to tell the tale.

In Batman & Robin, Mr. Freeze gleefully asks, “What killed the dinosaurs?”

As he turns the room into ice with his gun, he answers, “The ice age!”

Mr. Freeze obviously needs to learn his history, but he could have had some insight into what kills the starfish and sea urchins: a freezing finger of death!