THROUGH THE WOODS: Snowflakes

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By NANCY JANE KERN

“Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.”

–Henry David Thoreau

LAST NIGHT THE DAMP CHILL dropped 2” of powdery snow on our Town of Austerlitz hill. Yesterday the birds were frantically eating, and our small herd of deer was out in the field, indicating a storm was on its way. The bird feeders were stocked, and some blue jays came by to fill up on corn scattered on the ground. They are smart and will feed well, cache some of the corn, and then roost in the thick evergreens to ride out a storm.

The cold and snow continued with some wind gusts and powdery snow blowing off the roof. As much as we get annoyed with the bullying blue jays, they are very helpful in clearing off snow and digging down to the cracked and whole corn on the ground.

While sipping warm coffee and enjoying a cozy house, thoughts turned to just snow and snowflakes. It is so beautiful, and are there really no two snowflakes alike?  Kenneth G. Libbrecht, a Physics Professor at Caltech and Chairman of the Physics Department has written many books on snowflakes, and once appeared on the Martha Stewart Show. His passion for snowflakes is remarkable and this is benefiting us in many ways besides explaining interesting facts about these marvels of nature. He answers this question by saying how do we know if two snowflakes are alike without looking at them all, and who can do that? Theoretically it is possible that two are alike, but highly improbable. An ordinary snowflake can form in more than 10 to the 158th power (that’s a 1 followed by 158 zeros). This number is beyond trying to comprehend what a trillion means in the National Debt.  Snowflakes can look alike to the eye or even under a microscope, but on a molecular level they are not alike. So, to begin with, you must define what “look alike” means. The crystal structure of a snowflake is based on a water molecule with two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. As water crystallizes it forms structures with six sides or six arms in these myriads of complex configurations.  Frozen raindrops form sleet without any symmetrical pattern. Snow crystals form in clouds when water vapor condenses directly into ice, and patterns form as the crystals grow into snowflakes. Complexity depends on things like atmospheric pressure, temperature, and formation time. Side branching can form dendrites or “tree-like” forms. These are commonly what we think of as snowflakes, but there are charts and photos of many other types.


Cardinal and snowflakes./ Nancy Kern

Research on snowflakes is very important in understanding crystals, to help us make the silicon wafers for computer chips, laser crystals, diamonds, and in uses for many other applications. For just plain fun, start snowflake watching, and maybe snowflake photography. Examining them is easy, just carry a magnifying lens. This can be a folding type, not too expensive, and of about 5-10 power in magnification.

It is interesting for us to think about these things, but also to think about how animals look at snow. The growing puppy doesn’t know what to think of it on first encounter, but now bounces up and down in it with glee.  At least one animal is enjoying it, and many others of us can too.

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