"Joe Hunt" wrote:

It always amazes me how they say that no two snowflakes are exactly the
same. They obviously have verified this by checking every one that has
fallen from the sky, that would be ludicrous, however, I feel it must be
based on some mathematical theory. This has similarities to a calculation
I did at GCSE Biology which showed why no two people look alike, was to do
with genotypes and chromosomes IIRC.

Anyone have more of an idea than I seem to have !?

This might involve a calculation which I have often promised
myself that I ought to attempt, but never got round to. I am now
far too old and lazy to try. That is, how many snow-flakes are
there in a typical snowstorm. Work on the basis that the best
snowstorm we are likely to get in the UK would cover,
say, half the country with 30cm of snow, that would be
25mm x 125,000 sq km of water equivalent. And how much
water in a snowflake? No idea, but not much ... less than
a mm cubed, I guess.

Philip Eden

"Mike Tullett" wrote in
message

A snow flake is an aggregation of tens or hundreds of separate tiny ice
crystals. The latter grow within the colder parts of clouds and take on a
crystal structure, well illustrated on many web pages.

The growth is directly from water vapour gas to an ice crystal, with no
liquid water normally involved. As the falling crystals bump into each
other, they often join (at fairly high temperatures) to form what we see as
a snow flake, containing much air, both in and between the crystals. If
the lower air is sufficiently cold, these flakes can get all the way down
to the ground, but usually they melt to produce what we see as rain.

So your idea of "water expanding to form a flake" needs to be re-thought:-)

This page seems to have some useful information:

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/s...mer/primer.htm

(From Tom Allen's link
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/anyway. Error 404 File
Not Found)

A lot to take in and a load of links to take you off at tangents.
Interesting though -if somewhat hopeful, explanation of fractals.





--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

"Mike Tullett" wrote in
message

A snow flake is an aggregation of tens or hundreds of separate tiny ice
crystals. The latter grow within the colder parts of clouds and take on a
crystal structure, well illustrated on many web pages.

The growth is directly from water vapour gas to an ice crystal, with no
liquid water normally involved. As the falling crystals bump into each
other, they often join (at fairly high temperatures) to form what we see as
a snow flake, containing much air, both in and between the crystals. If
the lower air is sufficiently cold, these flakes can get all the way down
to the ground, but usually they melt to produce what we see as rain.

So your idea of "water expanding to form a flake" needs to be re-thought:-)

This page seems to have some useful information:

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/s...mer/primer.htm

(From Tom Allen's link
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/anyway. Error 404 File
Not Found)

A lot to take in and a load of links to take you off at tangents.
Interesting though -if somewhat hopeful, explanation of fractals.





--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

"Mike Tullett" wrote in
message

A snow flake is an aggregation of tens or hundreds of separate tiny ice
crystals. The latter grow within the colder parts of clouds and take on a
crystal structure, well illustrated on many web pages.

The growth is directly from water vapour gas to an ice crystal, with no
liquid water normally involved. As the falling crystals bump into each
other, they often join (at fairly high temperatures) to form what we see as
a snow flake, containing much air, both in and between the crystals. If
the lower air is sufficiently cold, these flakes can get all the way down
to the ground, but usually they melt to produce what we see as rain.

So your idea of "water expanding to form a flake" needs to be re-thought:-)

This page seems to have some useful information:

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/s...mer/primer.htm

(From Tom Allen's link
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/anyway. Error 404 File
Not Found)

A lot to take in and a load of links to take you off at tangents.
Interesting though -if somewhat hopeful, explanation of fractals.





--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

"Mike Tullett" wrote in
message

A snow flake is an aggregation of tens or hundreds of separate tiny ice
crystals. The latter grow within the colder parts of clouds and take on a
crystal structure, well illustrated on many web pages.

The growth is directly from water vapour gas to an ice crystal, with no
liquid water normally involved. As the falling crystals bump into each
other, they often join (at fairly high temperatures) to form what we see as
a snow flake, containing much air, both in and between the crystals. If
the lower air is sufficiently cold, these flakes can get all the way down
to the ground, but usually they melt to produce what we see as rain.

So your idea of "water expanding to form a flake" needs to be re-thought:-)

This page seems to have some useful information:

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/s...mer/primer.htm

(From Tom Allen's link
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/anyway. Error 404 File
Not Found)

A lot to take in and a load of links to take you off at tangents.
Interesting though -if somewhat hopeful, explanation of fractals.





--
Posted via Mailgate.ORG Server - http://www.Mailgate.ORG

"Joe Hunt" wrote in message
...
It always amazes me how they say that no two snowflakes are exactly the
same. They obviously have verified this by checking every one that has
fallen from the sky, that would be ludicrous, however, I feel it must be
based on some mathematical theory. This has similarities to a calculation
I did at GCSE Biology which showed why no two people look alike, was to do
with genotypes and chromosomes IIRC.

Anyone have more of an idea than I seem to have !?

Cheers, Joe



I would say that snowflake patterns could be seen from a fractal program.

--
Joe
Wolverhampton

"Joe Hunt" wrote in message
...
It always amazes me how they say that no two snowflakes are exactly the
same. They obviously have verified this by checking every one that has
fallen from the sky, that would be ludicrous, however, I feel it must be
based on some mathematical theory. This has similarities to a calculation
I did at GCSE Biology which showed why no two people look alike, was to do
with genotypes and chromosomes IIRC.

Anyone have more of an idea than I seem to have !?

Cheers, Joe



I would say that snowflake patterns could be seen from a fractal program.

--
Joe
Wolverhampton

"Joe Hunt" wrote in message
...
It always amazes me how they say that no two snowflakes are exactly the
same. They obviously have verified this by checking every one that has
fallen from the sky, that would be ludicrous, however, I feel it must be
based on some mathematical theory. This has similarities to a calculation
I did at GCSE Biology which showed why no two people look alike, was to do
with genotypes and chromosomes IIRC.

Anyone have more of an idea than I seem to have !?

Cheers, Joe



I would say that snowflake patterns could be seen from a fractal program.

--
Joe
Wolverhampton

"Joe Hunt" wrote in message
...
It always amazes me how they say that no two snowflakes are exactly the
same. They obviously have verified this by checking every one that has
fallen from the sky, that would be ludicrous, however, I feel it must be
based on some mathematical theory. This has similarities to a calculation
I did at GCSE Biology which showed why no two people look alike, was to do
with genotypes and chromosomes IIRC.

Anyone have more of an idea than I seem to have !?

Cheers, Joe



I would say that snowflake patterns could be seen from a fractal program.

--
Joe
Wolverhampton

A couple of recent snowflakes re aggregation and fractal properties-
Chaos, Solitons & Fractals Volume 23, Issue 4 , February 2005, Pages
1111-1119
A local cellular model for snow crystal growth Clifford A. Reiter
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...282b20478222a5

preprint at-

http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~reiterc/mvp/sfn/sfn_pp.pdf

and

Universality in snowflake aggregation
Authors: C. D. Westbrook, R. C. Ball, P. R. Field, A. J. Heymsfield
ics/0310164

http://arxiv.org/abs/phys


--
regards,
David
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