Snowflakes

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by jem

And somewhat disappointingly the OP's status is now 'guest' so I suspect we'll hear no more from him-well at least in that incarnation anyway.

I was wondering if we ever were going to get his explaination as to why hexagons crop up so often in nature, or his understanding of the true nature of gravity - we'll all just have to resign ourselves to living in ignorance as indeed we are doomed to never know what made his TV spontaneously turn itself off.

A sad, sad day indeed.

Gremlins

[jem]

Originally Posted by Sirius

Gremlins

That's always my first assumption - much more likely than a faulty HDMI cable with a cracked core or dodgy socket!

[Kymmy]

Time perhaps for the thread to go the same way as the OP?

[dilli-theclaw]

Originally Posted by jem

And somewhat disappointingly the OP's status is now 'guest' so I suspect we'll hear no more from him-well at least in that incarnation anyway.

Indeed - I suspect he'll return (If indeed all of his incarnations really left / got booted - we shall see)

How about we stick to the topic?

Are they really all that unique?

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by dilli-theclaw

althouguh you may need to look out for a dodgy dilli in his chair - he may bite

That's about the only bit of you that still works

---------- Post added at 06:59 ---------- Previous post was at 06:58 ----------

Originally Posted by jem

And somewhat disappointingly the OP's status is now 'guest' so I suspect we'll hear no more from him-well at least in that incarnation anyway.

I was wondering if we ever were going to get his explaination as to why hexagons crop up so often in nature, or his understanding of the true nature of gravity - we'll all just have to resign ourselves to living in ignorance as indeed we are doomed to never know what made his TV spontaneously turn itself off.

A sad, sad day indeed.

Sad indeed, he just wanted us all to be a little bit wiser and bask in his colossal intellect, if only he'd stuck around we'd all know about snowflakes and Maggy would know by now if they really were that unique

[jem]

Originally Posted by TheDaddy

That's about the only bit of you that still works

---------- Post added at 06:59 ---------- Previous post was at 06:58 ----------



Sad indeed, he just wanted us all to be a little bit wiser and bask in his colossal intellect, if only he'd stuck around we'd all know about snowflakes and Maggy would know by now if they really were that unique

Well they possibly are, the structure of the water molecule greatly favours ice crystals forming a hexagonal lattice structure (although twelve-sided snowflakes have sometimes been observed). The six 'arms' of this structure grow independently and chaotically and indeed only a fraction of snowflakes are actually symmetrical. Because this growth is completely random then it is not likely that two snowflakes would grow in identical manners. - but it is certainly not a rule that all snowflakes have to be dissimilar.

Going back to the 'largest snowflake' postings from earlier in this thread, there is no evidence that this 15 inch snowflake ever existed - it was just a claim that someone reported seeing one of that size. The largest properly measured and recorded snowflakes are more like 2-3 inches across. It is unlikely (but not impossible) that a snowflake could grow to 15 inches across, they are quite delicate structures and it is more probable that wind shear as they descend would break them up.

Lastly the density of a snowflake drops rapidly with diameter. The OP's 'generous' estimate of 50% air is nothing like it. The actual mass of a hypothetical 15 inch snowflake would be a small fraction of what he though it would be and its terminal velocity (another topic which there seemed to be a bit of confusion about) would be higher than normal snowflakes but not greatly so.

[techguyone]

I don't know if Jem is more accurate than *that other person* or not, but their style of presentation is gentler and rather less THIS IS HOW IT IS and if you dare question me I will PUMMEL you with my superior INTELLECT

Cartman - Respect my authoritah! springs to mind with the OP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1vKDM7wfiA

TOPIC!

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by jem

Well they possibly are, the structure of the water molecule greatly favours ice crystals forming a hexagonal lattice structure (although twelve-sided snowflakes have sometimes been observed). The six 'arms' of this structure grow independently and chaotically and indeed only a fraction of snowflakes are actually symmetrical. Because this growth is completely random then it is not likely that two snowflakes would grow in identical manners. - but it is certainly not a rule that all snowflakes have to be dissimilar.

Well they say if you have an infinite pool of monkeys hitting a typewriter randomly for an infinite duration you will sooner or later get the complete works of Shakespeare out of one of them. So given an infinite multiverse, any possible shape and configuration of snowflake would theoretically occur an infinite number of times.

Going back to the 'largest snowflake' postings from earlier in this thread, there is no evidence that this 15 inch snowflake ever existed - it was just a claim that someone reported seeing one of that size.

Very true. And in fact, they never even claimed to see one of "that size" (15 inches), just something akin to the size of a pan I believe was the actual description.

[Dude111]

Originally Posted by Maggy J

TOPIC!

I love the topic of beautiful snowflakes,especially the REAL BIG ones

Nature can be amazing Maggy!

[heero_yuy]

I remember a good few years ago at the end of a snow fall the last minutes had giant flakes 4-5" across but not many. They looked dish shaped as well and seemed to be acretions of already large flakes. No wind whatsoever and the temperature was close to freezing. Must have been special conditions for that to happen.