I don't understand how a story like this can make front-page slashdot, yet the story about the man burning his penis with his laptop can't. A distinct failure in public safety awareness, if I ever saw one.
In a blizzard of enlightment, Slashdot editors got snowed into posting this by some flake!
-- Just another day in Paradise
It's all about the pictures
by
majordomo
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
I'm sitting right now one story down from the office of Ken Libbrecht, the guy who wrote the book (and the website). Ken told me that he was writing a book on the physics of snowflakes, and I asked him how he expected to get anyone to buy it. "Pictures," he replied, "lots of pretty pictures!"
Looks like he was right!
not-so old proverb
by
makoffee
·
· Score: 5, Funny
one man's snow flake is another mans' glass ninja throwing star.
Some of the best eary snow flake photograph are from Bentley (1930s). There's even a web site for the Bently snowflake museum.
http://snowflakebentley.com/
Take a break from the trolling, posting and hacking, and enjoy the photographs. They're quite beautiful.
this snowflake seems to be made in Taiwan...
by
BaldricInOz
·
· Score: 5, Funny
er.... did anyone notice that
this snowflake has a serial number in the middle (hub) of it?
ASCII version of pictures
by
mraymer
·
· Score: 5, Funny
*
and my personal favorite
* *
* *
The above one makes a great desktop for the graphically challenged.
--
"To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit." -Stephen Hawking
Why they're symmetrical
by
RobotWisdom
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Because each arm experiences the same conditions, the arms tend to look alike, producing large-scale, intricate, six-fold symmetric snow crystals.
This explanation is obviously handwaving-- the symmetry is perfect (or close to it) over scales of millions of molecules.
I've been arguing since 1980 or so that an ice crystal in freefall is not at absolute zero (obviously) so it must have internal vibrations. This is basically 'noise', but as it echoes thru the ice, it stops looking random and becomes symmetrical, like Chladni patterns on a vibrating plate or drumhead. (Or like the radiating circles from a drip of water into a circular pool, reconverging at an opposite point.) Because these symmetries are present from the first stage of growth, they maintain symmetrical growth.
I don't think the 104.5 degree angle between the hydrogens in water molecules is close enough to 120 to deliver perfect hexagonality-- it's probably due to the geometry of echoes in any disk, because hexagons can be inscribed in circles. (The spinning of the seed probably contributes to the flatness-- growing favors the outside edge of the bulge, otherwise it might be more spherical.)
Slashdot Mirror
I don't understand how a story like this can make front-page slashdot, yet the story about the man burning his penis with his laptop can't. A distinct failure in public safety awareness, if I ever saw one.
In a blizzard of enlightment, Slashdot editors got snowed into posting this by some flake!
Just another day in Paradise
I'm sitting right now one story down from the office of Ken Libbrecht, the guy who wrote the book (and the website). Ken told me that he was writing a book on the physics of snowflakes, and I asked him how he expected to get anyone to buy it. "Pictures," he replied, "lots of pretty pictures!"
Looks like he was right!
one man's snow flake is another mans' glass ninja throwing star.
-makoffee
In a society of snowmen, would these pictures be considered child pornography?
Support your local troll!
Some of the best eary snow flake photograph are
from Bentley (1930s). There's even a web site
for the Bently snowflake museum.
http://snowflakebentley.com/
Take a break from the trolling, posting and
hacking, and enjoy the photographs. They're
quite beautiful.
er.... did anyone notice that this snowflake has a serial number in the middle (hub) of it?
*
and my personal favorite
* *
* *
The above one makes a great desktop for the graphically challenged.
"To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit." -Stephen Hawking
This explanation is obviously handwaving-- the symmetry is perfect (or close to it) over scales of millions of molecules.
I've been arguing since 1980 or so that an ice crystal in freefall is not at absolute zero (obviously) so it must have internal vibrations. This is basically 'noise', but as it echoes thru the ice, it stops looking random and becomes symmetrical, like Chladni patterns on a vibrating plate or drumhead. (Or like the radiating circles from a drip of water into a circular pool, reconverging at an opposite point.) Because these symmetries are present from the first stage of growth, they maintain symmetrical growth.
I don't think the 104.5 degree angle between the hydrogens in water molecules is close enough to 120 to deliver perfect hexagonality-- it's probably due to the geometry of echoes in any disk, because hexagons can be inscribed in circles. (The spinning of the seed probably contributes to the flatness-- growing favors the outside edge of the bulge, otherwise it might be more spherical.)