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snowflakes


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I know they say that no two snowflakes look the same

and whoever says that is most likely right

but I just find that a little hard to believe.

I mean, sure, there are millions of diffrent ways for a snowflake to look

but think of all the snow that has fallen on earth,

I mean, you think that two snowflakes, from anywhere on earth, would look exactly (and I use the word exactly very loosely) the same.

right???

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i get what you mean because there's like more snowflakes in this world than anybody can count, and it's not likely that a person walks around with a super-microscope and looks at each and every snowflake to see if they're the same or not.

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"in 1988, the scientist Nancy Knight (at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado) was studying wispy high altitude cirrus clouds. Her research plane was collecting snowflakes on a chilled glass slide that was coated with a sticky oil. She found two identical (under a microscope, at least) snowflakes in a Wisconsin snowstorm"

[url:4f2ad]http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/s1784760.htm

on the other hand...

"Is it true that no two snowflakes are identical?

Yes and no. No two snowflakes are exactly identical, down to the precise number of water molecules, spin of electrons, isotope abundance of hydrogen and oxygen, etc. On the other hand, it is possible for two snowflakes to look exactly alike and any given snowflake probably has had a good match at some point in history. Since so many factors affect the structure of a snowflake and since a snowflake's structure is constantly changing in response to environmental conditions, it is improbable that anyone would see two identical snowflakes. "

[url:4f2ad]http://chemistry.about.com/od/moleculescompounds/a/snowflake.htm

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thanks fireheart

luv the warriors books, by the way...

but now it's time for me to correct myself yet again

Now, I'm just gonna say I'm sorta right, cuz, like I said, I used the word "exactly" very loosely

but when you use it less loosely, you find yourself in a whole new situation

now, I only sorta skimmed, but there was a physicion guy who went more deeply into it.

and it's not really about seeing every snowflake, but about the science of it all...

I dunno, they said stuff about how some water molecules that occur naturally have a different type of atom, (can't remember which) in place of one of the hydrogen atoms...

I don't really wanna go into deep explanation right now, I'm kinda tired

but it's actually EXTREMELY unlikely

I'm gonna start doin my research BEFORE I post something here...

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If you think about it an atom is 1 x 10 to the power -8 (physics AS tomorrow been learning ;)) and a snowflake is i dont know how big lets say 5 millimetres which is 5 x 10 to the power -3, so there are 20 000? if my maths is right (which it probably isnt). Then think of it like dropping 20 000 ice cubes into a (very very large) bucket. Do it more than once and see if the ice cubes freeze together in exactly the same way.

All the maths and physics is very wrong as although i do AS in them i am not very good at all. Although no-one questions my chemistry ;)

Thanks for reading

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I just got my information by googling it and looking at what some physician found out

Most naturally occuring water molecules have oxygen atoms of O14 I think. (I read this stuff a long time ago)

But one out of 500 have oxygen atoms of O16

And sometimes one of the hydrogen atoms is replaced by... something else.

That adds to the unlikelines of it, but I still think it doesn't need that help because it's so unlikely

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