Space and Physics
PUBLISHED
No two snowflakes are the same (at least not in nature). That’s common knowledge – but did you know there are 35 different types of snowflakes? Or that each individual snowflake contains 100,000 water droplets? Do you know how they form? Or that it can take up to 45 minutes?
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.If the answer to any of these questions is no, then you’re in luck. Dr Ken Libbrecht, “the snowflake guy” and world expert on snowflakes, has teamed up with Veritasium to shed some light on the secrets of snowflakes.
Libbrecht creates “designer” snowflakes and he really knows his stuff – he was the snowflake consultant for the movie Frozen, and his work has even appeared on postage stamps.
Simply by changing the growth conditions such as the temperature and humidity, Libbrecht can manipulate snowflakes as they form, adding features to create the perfect pattern.
“I can predict the future,” he jokes.
Check out the video below to see it in action, and find out how to grow designer snowflakes.
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