Clathrate hydrates burning snowball.” methane hydrate

Figure 7.1 Burning snowballs of methane clathrate hydrate (image courtesy of the US Geological Survey).

Clathrate hydrates are inclusion compounds formed by the enclosure of a small guest molecule within a hydrogen bonded cage of solid-state water. Clathrate hydrates are co-crystals and are thus distinct from ice, which is made of pure water, and hence can have different physical properties to ice such as a different melting point. The classic example of a clathrate hydrate is the burning snowball of methane clathrate hydrate. The combustion of the methane in the clathrate is self-sustaining, Figure 7.1. Many... 

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