[Epona]

Water molecules are, if described simply, roundish in shape.

Round objects pack best into hexagonal shapes (try it with some marbles all of the same size) and ice particles forming a snowflake do the same thing, in that case imagine the middle 'marble' as particle of dust, which is what causes the formation of snowflakes in the first place:


...O.O
..O.O.O
...O.O

The formation of crystals is not even across the whole surface - points sticking out will grow crystal faster than a flat surface hence this will develop from the above structure:

...O...O
....O.O
O.O.O.O.O
....O.O
...O...O

And about no two being alike? Well think about it, no two of *anything* are exactly alike. There is no such thing as a perfect sphere (except as a theoretical concept) for example, no such thing as two objects exactly the same, including marbles, coke cans, chewing gum sticks, or tiny ice particles. The minute imperfections in the initial microscopic particles of ice that form around an imperfectly shaped particle of dust would make it impossible for any two snowflakes to be the same, not so amazing when you think of it that way.

So for me it's science. Doesn't make it any less wondrous or beautiful. [img]smile.gif[/img] Thanks for posting the link.

EDIT: Sorry I had to put dots in my diagrams to make them hold their shape once posted - for some reason my carefully placed spaces collapsed upon posting! So 'O'= an ice particle (or any other basically round object) and '.' = just something I put in so the diagram would look right (sort of). Sorry, it looked better without the dots!

[ 01-15-2003, 09:10 AM: Message edited by: Epona ]