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Special Snowflakes No More

posted by martyb on Saturday December 26 2015, @01:57PM   
from the that's-really-cool! dept.

takyon writes:

Caltech physicist Kenneth Libbrecht creates nearly identical "designer snowflakes" by precisely controlling growth conditions such as temperature, humidity, positioning, and air flow. Here's a 60 second explanation on YouTube.

Here are few articles by Libbrecht:

[More after the break.]

Morphogenesis on Ice: The Physics of Snow Crystals
Explaining the Formation of Thin Ice-Crystal Plates with Structure-Dependent Attachment Kinetics
An Investigation of Laboratory-grown Ice Spikes (DOI: 10.3189/172756504781830015)
The Physics of Snow Crystals
The Formation of Snow Crystals
A Convection Chamber for Measuring Ice Crystal Growth Dynamics
Crystal Growth in the Presence of Surface Melting and Impurities: An Explanation of Snow Crystal Growth Morphologies

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Original Submission

• Re:Already done Re:Already done (Score: 2) by jmoschner on Sunday December 27 2015, @01:13AM

  by jmoschner (3296) on Sunday December 27 2015, @01:13AM (#281333)

  They found identical snowflakes as far back as 1988.

  "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."

  http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2006/11/13/1784760.htm [abc.net.au]

  Parent

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• Re:Already done (Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Sunday December 27 2015, @08:19AM

  by dyingtolive (952) on Sunday December 27 2015, @08:19AM (#281403)

  Now we have to go to tumblr to see that.

  --
  Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!

  Parent