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Snowflake science: are there identical twin snowflakes?




Are two snowflakes ever alike? It is thought that they are not.

Snowflakes develop when cloud droplets freeze and float down to Earth as ice crystals. They are always white, even though they are made of clear ice. This is because of the many facets and angles of the snowflakes that diffuse reflection of the whole colour spectrum of light. Under a microscope they are shown to have a variety of shapes and sizes – most of them quite complex – and most are irregular, while some are symmetrical. Single snowflakes are likely to be symmetrical. Aggregated snowflakes are usually irregular.

The shape of each snowflake is mostly determined by the temperature and humidity. It is unlikely that any two snowflakes are alike due to the different sizes of water droplets and the changing temperature – and wind – before the snowflake hits the ground. This is referred to as the snowflake’s ‘turbulent path.’

Physicist Kenneth G. Libbrecht from the California Institute of Technology makes snowflakes in his laboratory. And he has found a way to create ‘identifcal twin’ snowflakes. Artificial snowflakes. Snowflake science.

Libbrecht maintains that if you take away the ‘turbulent path’ of a snowflake then you can no longer guarantee its uniqueness. He places two crystal seeds next to each other and grows them under the same conditions – and he creates identical twin snowflakes.

He has been making snowflakes for 20 years – but only found ‘the recipe’ for identical twins in August 2015. In his laboratory, Libbrecht has a chiller and sapphire glass. He adjusts the temperature and humidity to manipulate the snowflake design. Temperatures of -10C create frozen flowers with flat plates. At -2C he can make triangular snowflakes. Each snowflake takes 15 minutes to an hour to ‘grow.’ The growth is like mushrooms sprouting.

Libbrecht says that in making identical twin snowflakes he hasn’t violated any laws of physics – he has ‘just found a loophole.’

He takes photographs of the identical snowflakes – showing snowflake science – using a photomicroscope, which has been designed to capture snow crystals. He calls it the SnowMaster 9000. His images are below and can be seen at Libbrecht’s website:




http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/23/science/who-ever-said-no-two-snowflakes-were-alike.html?hpw&rref=science&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).


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