With a cold wave sweeping across China, a new "challenge" has taken hold online - throwing water into the air to watch it immediately turn into ice. But one middle-aged bald man got himself into some hot water when he tried this challenge with boiling water. Photo: screenshot of Beijing News on Sina Weibo.

With a cold wave sweeping across China, a new "challenge" has taken hold online - throwing water into the air to watch it immediately turn into ice. But one middle-aged bald man got himself into some hot water when he tried this challenge with boiling water. Experts explained that this would only work when the temperature is below -40 C.  

The video of the scalded man has been widely circulated on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo in recent days, and shows a bald man throwing a bowl of boiling water into the air in the hope that it would turn into a spectacular "ice flower" made of ice fog.  

However, not only did he fail in his attempt, but also got himself burned when some of the water fell onto his head, forcing him to flee the scene in panic. Luckily, the man said he was not injured in the incident.  

Experts suggest that only in extreme cold weather, usually at temperatures below -40 C, can such a phenomenon take place, as the hot water mist would immediately turn into a mass of ice fog in freezing cold days. 

Global Times