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Formation of Snowflakes

The birth of a snowflake begins when a pollen, dust or dirt comes in contact with a water vapour high in

the Earths atmosphere. Due to the low temperature and humid air, the water vapour -coated particle

freezes into ice and grows in size until it has reached a critical point. The ice crystal or the bead is

relatively warmer compared with its environment. With that in consideration, heat transfer direction is

outwards. The heat flow triggers fingers of ice to split into six fingers in radial position. The crystals six-

pointedness is determined by the fact that the water molecules which compose the ice crystals are

arranged in a hexagonal pattern. At the same time, as it descends from the sky, more water vapour

freezes into the ice crystal, making it heavier and enlarging the hexagonal pattern. The process by which

ice is split is repeated with the 6 daughter fingers. However, instead of producing six more daughter

fingers, only three are generated. This is so because the potential middle ice finger will be growing

backwards while the two other potential ice fingers have no available cold air for heat to flow into.

Reiteration of this tip-splitting process will further result to a fern-like or dendrite shaped snowflake.

Generally, snowflakes occur as six-sided hexagonal crystals because of waters tendency to arrange

themselves in such a way that repulsive forces are minimized, frequently producing symmetrical

structures. But factors like amount of temperature and moisture affect the finer details of its

arrangement. Given a cooler and dry atmosphere, powdery snowflakes with sharper edges are

produced. While under warmer conditions, snowflakes grow slowly resulting into smoother and less

intricate shapes.

Figure 1.Effects of temperature and humidity on snowflake formation

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It is therefore valid to conclude that although snowflakes are not exactly alike, almost all of them have a

similar appearance. This similarity is made possible by the snowflakes basic formation process. On the

contrary, the fine detail of most of the snowflakes is a result of many variations in clouds, moisture in

the atmosphere, temperature, humidity and other factors. Snowflakes travel unique trajectories and are

weathered by unique conditions which give them their intricate identity.

Sources:

http://geology.com/articles/snowflakes/

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.noaa.gov/features/02_monitorin

g/snowflakes_2013.html

http://earthsky.org/earth/how-do-snowflakes-get-their-shape

http://www.geek.com/science/geek-answers-how-do-snowflakes-form-1567903/

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/knowledge/science/snowflake/#.Ut1EahD-LIV

http://chemistry.about.com/od/moleculescompounds/a/snowflake.htm

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