No Two Snowflakes Alike?

[Wil Limanen]

I've heard that but have a very hard time believing it. After last night's snow and cleaning out the 4 foot high bank the snowplow left in my driveway.

[curtis rosche]

at my house we always clear the side of the road before our driveway, that way the plow dumps all its snow before our driveway. it works for the most part until the plow driver sees it as meaning he needs to get closer to the edge of the road

[Wil Limanen]

Yeah, I thought about that but figured the driver would find another way too. I used to use a bobcat but got rid of it last year because it was a little overkill now that I moved to a lesser driveway. Sure wish I had it back now.

[Van Huskey]

Well first you have to have a nucleation site ie a dust particle, then the ice begins to form into hexagonal prisms then... nevermind they are all just different, honest.

[curtis rosche]

Yeah, I thought about that but figured the driver would find another way too. I used to use a bobcat but got rid of it last year because it was a little overkill now that I moved to a lesser driveway. Sure wish I had it back now.

no harm in trying to to see if it works out.

[Ryan Mooney]

Depends on your definition of snowflake and alike

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/s...like/alike.htm

Another interesting point of probable uniqueness is shuffled decks of cards..

http://www.matthewweathers.com/year2...ling_cards.htm

None of this is helping me keep the driveway clear of snow.

[Jim Rimmer]

See John C.'s post about useless knowledge. No one knows if they are not alike until you compare them all.

[Moses Yoder]

I think this is the guy that did the photographs in the book we own. An interesting site anyway. http://snowflakebentley.com/ You can kill a couple hours there not shoveling snow.

[Van Huskey]

No one knows if they are not alike until you compare them all.

Sorta the basis for the long lack of proof of Fermet's last theorum (just ask Homer Simpson) but along came Wiles...

NOt nearly the same thing but useless knowledge none the less.

[Joe Pelonio]

Last time I tried to verify that the darn things kept melting.

That foot or so we got last week has finally just about all melted.

[Dan Hintz]

Got an inch or two here last week, but a couple of 45-60 degree days killed it off in short order... happily, too.

I can only hope it stays that way...

[Gary Hodgin]

How does anyone know this? We can know that flakes are different but how do we know for sure that no two are the same. Obviously, we haven't looked at all of them. Same thing applies to finger prints.

[Dan Hintz]

How does anyone know this? We can know that flakes are different but how do we know for sure that no two are the same. Obviously, we haven't looked at all of them. Same thing applies to finger prints.

Chaos theory.

[Wil Limanen]

DSC06205.jpgDSC06206.jpgNow if I could get everybody to take a bucket home with them to compare. I could sell my snowblower!

[Gary Hodgin]

Assuming all the flakes so far have been different, it looks like even under chaos theory that eventually either two flakes would be the same or it stops snowing.

Personally, I think some that have fallen have been the same. We had a light snow with small flakes a few weeks ago. A lot of flakes fell and melted too quickly for me to check them, but several of them looked alike to me. I think a lot of scientists are just trying to impress us, perhaps to get more research grants.