If you look closely at a snowflake you will see countless individual features, all of which could have formed ever so slightly differently in direction or shape owing to the slightest change in the environment in which it formed. The number of possibilities of changes in temperature and humidity as the snowflake falls to the ground is limitless. While this in some sense impossible to test, as a general rule it is entirely true. Part of the enduring appeal of snowflakes is their intricate appearance and near infinite variation, often leading to the assertion that all snowflakes are unique. The molecules in ice crystals join to one another in a hexagonal structure, an arrangement which allows water molecules - each with one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms - to form together in the most efficient way.
Why are snowflakes hexagonal?Īll snowflakes contain six sides or points owing to the way in which they form. Once the ice crystal has formed, if the conditions are right it will begin to grow, as water molecules in the air are deposited onto the ice crystal as it falls through the air, and clump together to form a snowflake. The droplet becomes frozen either because temperatures are sufficiently cold (it would have to be −35 ☌ or lower) to freeze to other droplets, or in clouds above -35 ☌, they can form around a nucleus such as a dust or pollen particle. What is a snowflake?Ī snowflake begins life as a tiny droplet of supercooled water which freezes in the sky to create an ice crystal.
Snowflakes are one of the most recognisable symbols of winter weather. Every snowflake is unique and there is an infinite number of possible shapes they can form.
0 kommentar(er)
