Are no two snowflakes ever alike?
Its snowing!!! You have been waiting for this day all year. You run outside with a sled, a carrot, stones, sticks, and a microscope to look at the snowflakes. You put the snowflake under the microscope and notice its detailed shapes like someone carefully carved them. You pick another snowflake and look at it again and realize you picked the same one, or did you pick the same one. You wonder, are no two snowflakes ever alike? Lets pop this balloon to find out!
What are snowflakes?
Snowflakes form when water vapor freezes into ice directly without becoming liquid first. This process is called deposition which means gas particles turning into a solid figure. Naturally, water molecules form into a hexagonal shape, because of the angle water molecules bond at. This is the reason why snowflakes are always having a six folded symmetry.
Are no two snowflakes ever alike?
This myth is half-true. The shape of a snowflake depends on the path of the snowflake falling. While falling or forming certain changes might happen in the air such as temperature, humidity, and air currents which does pass by while falling. There are so many complex details and structures in a snowflake that it is very unlikely to find two snowflakes alike. Although, for simpler snowflakes they can look alike. Many can be basic hexagonal shapes that could be simple which could make it virtually identical to another snowflake.
Fun Facts
Inside of a snowflake they are hallow inside. Their branching structure gives it a look like it is solid ice. Wilson Bentley was the first person to photograph a snowflake in 1885 by rigging a microscope and a camera. He took photos of over 5000 snowflakes and nicknamed “Snowflake Bentley”. The largest snowflake ever recorded was 15 inches wide, observed in Montana, in 1887.
Sources
Library of Congress – "Is it true that no two snow crystals are alike?"
McGill University, Office for Science and Society – "Is it true that no two snowflakes are identical?"
https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/environment-you-asked/it-true-no-two-snowflakes-are-identical
CNN – "How a Vermont farmer proved no snowflakes are alike"
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2022/12/weather/wilson-snowflake-bentley-cnnphotos/
