All About Snowflakes by Annika Vanderbeek
Have you ever wondered, is every snowflake really different from one another? Is every single snowflake out of the quadrillions falling from the sky unique? It really just doesn’t seem realistic, does it? If you are interested in this topic, please keep reading!
Snowflakes are made when the air temperature reaches thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit or zero degrees Celsius. When the atmosphere rises to that temperature, tiny snow crystals start to form when freezing cold water droplets fall on a piece of dust or pollen and form ice crystals. That's right, snow is really just made from water, pollen, and dust. As the ice crystal makes its journey onto the ground water vapor freezes around it which makes the six arms. And again, yes, all snowflakes have six arms.
But now that the snowflakes are made, how do they actually make it to the ground? Did you know it actually takes snowflakes about one hour to reach the ground? They descend at speeds ranging from one to nine miles per hour. Most snowflakes fall at one or two miles per hour, but exceptionally big snowflakes can make it to nine miles per hour.
Now that you know the process of how snowflakes are made, are they really all that unique? Yes! Every snowflake has a special design true to only itself. It is a really big concept to understand, since trillions of snowflakes are made each year, and this might sound crazy but scientists estimate that there are ten to the power of one hundred and fifty-eight versions of snowflakes possible. To translate it from math language to English, that number would have one hundred and fifty-eight zeros in it.
All snowflakes can be classified into one of 41 categories, the most popular shape being stellar dendrite. This looks like the typical snowflake drawing or decoration of a snowflake, if you picture a snowflake right now, it is probably a stellar dendrite snowflake.
Now that I have solved your everlasting problem of wondering if two snowflakes are the same, you can go to sleep at night again thanks to me. Happy snowflaking!
Sources used: noaa.gov, ssec.si.edu, lovetoknow.com, foxweather.com
Snowflakes are made when the air temperature reaches thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit or zero degrees Celsius. When the atmosphere rises to that temperature, tiny snow crystals start to form when freezing cold water droplets fall on a piece of dust or pollen and form ice crystals. That's right, snow is really just made from water, pollen, and dust. As the ice crystal makes its journey onto the ground water vapor freezes around it which makes the six arms. And again, yes, all snowflakes have six arms.
But now that the snowflakes are made, how do they actually make it to the ground? Did you know it actually takes snowflakes about one hour to reach the ground? They descend at speeds ranging from one to nine miles per hour. Most snowflakes fall at one or two miles per hour, but exceptionally big snowflakes can make it to nine miles per hour.
Now that you know the process of how snowflakes are made, are they really all that unique? Yes! Every snowflake has a special design true to only itself. It is a really big concept to understand, since trillions of snowflakes are made each year, and this might sound crazy but scientists estimate that there are ten to the power of one hundred and fifty-eight versions of snowflakes possible. To translate it from math language to English, that number would have one hundred and fifty-eight zeros in it.
All snowflakes can be classified into one of 41 categories, the most popular shape being stellar dendrite. This looks like the typical snowflake drawing or decoration of a snowflake, if you picture a snowflake right now, it is probably a stellar dendrite snowflake.
Now that I have solved your everlasting problem of wondering if two snowflakes are the same, you can go to sleep at night again thanks to me. Happy snowflaking!
Sources used: noaa.gov, ssec.si.edu, lovetoknow.com, foxweather.com