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Why Are All Snowflakes Different?

This is one of those questions that gets scientists very excited. The theory is that you can never get 2 identical snowflakes, because of the way that they grow.

How do snowflakes grow?

Snowflakes are not just frozen raindrops. They're crystals that grow superfast inside a snow cloud. All snowflakes start life as 6-sided hexagons, then they turn into stars with 6 arms. They grow in a very complicated way that depends on a mix of how cold it is and how much water they can suck up to feed their growth spurt. As a flake flutters about in a cloud, it passes through patches of warmer and cooler air - which means that even snowflakes from the same cloud will grow into completely different patterns.

So how can scientists know that all snowflakes are different?

The simple answer is they can't know for sure, and that's why they get all excited about this question. The number of possible ways of making a complex snowflake is enormous, so the chances of getting 2 the same are tiny. But scientists now say that very small simple flakes can be identical - even if you look at them under a powerful microscope.

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