Science Fun

The mystical magical snowflake!  What makes up the snowflake?  Every winter we get an abundance of this stuff we call ‘Snow’!  What makes up snow?  The snowflake!  What makes up a snowflake?  Well, that is the topic of today’s post and we hope you will enjoy it. Snow, a form of precipitation, in the formation of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from the clouds (no two flakes are the same).  Snow is composed of small ice particles and is granular with a soft structure that forms the ice crystal 

Snow crystals form when super cooled miniscule droplets of moisture freeze.  The snow crystal is a microscopic piece of dirt that is carried aloft by updrafts. As the crystal travels through the air, it attracts moisture; then as it reaches the super cold layers in our atmosphere, it freezes and forms into a hexagonal shaped crystal.  This little crystal forms tiny arms that lock into adjacent crystals and form snowflakes as they fall back to earth.  The snow crystal geometric shape is determined by the temperature and the humidity at the point of its formation.  

The snowflake is a unique creature, and according to scientists, there are no two alike.  The snowflake is made up of between two and two hundred snow crystals.  Heavier snowflakes are formed when the temperature is closer to the freezing point.  These snowflakes have higher moisture content and tend to be the larger flakes.  The drier flakes are light and fluffy, as they do not have high moisture content.  The snow depth is greater with the dry and lighter flakes.

Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow for the creation of the snowflake in laymen’s terms and for more technical analysis and a nice gallery of images, visit www.snowcrystals.com.  Snowflake and crystal images are from the image colletion at www.snowcrystals.com

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