tiny ice crystals intricate unique shapes that generously gives us every winter - that's what the snowflakes.The mystery of this amazing miracle of nature has long attracted curious minds.How does this phenomenon, which laws are subject to strict harmony of their forms and why they are so diverse - these questions will try to answer in this article.
history of the study of snowflakes
Scientists have long tried to find out what the snowflakes to explain the complex and harmonious structure of their buildings.The first of their drawings from nature are made by the Swiss researcher Mangus in 1555.
At the beginning of XVII century the German scientist Johannes Kepler discovered that almost all snowflakes are hexagonal crystals.He has published on the subject of scientific papers.
In the years 1635-1637 the question of what snowflakes are interested in the French mathematician Rene Descartes.He described them look like lilies, roses and wheels with six teeth.He has published their own sketches, which you can even see snowflakes with eight or twelve teeth naturally occurring very rarely.
In 1885, American scientist Wilson Bentley was first photographed under a microscope snow crystal.For almost fifty years, his collection amounted to about 5,000 such photos.
Japanese Nakaya Ukitiro - physicist - seriously studied how snowflakes are formed and why they are all so different, in the 30 years of the twentieth century.It was their first scientific classification and invented a mechanism for the production of artificial snow.In the name of the scientist called the Museum of ice and snow that is located in Japan, Hokkaido.
In 1955, the Russian A. Overseas snowflakes divided into nine classes, as well as 48 species.Among them - "hedgehogs", "needle", "plate", "bars", "studs" and others.
American Kenneth Liebrecht living today, was "comprehensive guide snowflakes."In his laboratory, snow crystals are grown artificially, it is even possible to make a design shape.
as images of snowflakes
snowflakes form from water vapor.Tiny droplets at low temperature and humidity condensed in the clouds.They face the dust particles floating in the air and join them.Thus, it is what it consists of snowflakes - a speck of dust (crystal nucleus) and small ice particles, gradually growing around each of them.
As future snowflake falls to the ground, it joined more and more new ice crystals, while maintaining its hexagonal shape clearly.Convex portions of the crystal growing faster.
confronted on its way to the supercooled droplets, snowflake continues to grow.Reaching a critical mass, it falls down - on the ground.
Variety snowflakes
to how snowflakes are formed and how they grow, influenced innumerable factors.The most significant of them - alternating temperatures in the different layers of the atmosphere, which brought snow crystals, making them pass.
snowflakes in the air is continuously changing.In cold areas, accelerating the growth of crystals, they grow considerably in length.There, where there is more than warm air, the "rays" substantially lengthened, but begin to grow in breadth.Knowing that a snowflake, you can easily explain why, depending on weather conditions in a particular area usually falls for her distinctive type of snow.
So, in the Baltic and central Russia in calm weather snow often comes in the form of large "fluffy" flakes having a complex branched form.With strong gusts of wind and low temperature snowflakes collide with each other, and crumble into fine fragments fall downwards.If you hit forty-degree cold, nascent ice crystals will hide the ground "diamond dust".And in the center of Yakutia in cold weather often fall thin "needles" of ice.
When snow falls
snow forms in the case when the temperature is below two degrees Celsius.The notion that this thermometer means should fall below zero - is a myth.In this case, it begins to melt the snow has already fallen.However, in the process air temperature in places where there are precipitates certainly reduced.
heaviest snow flakes fall in the range of zero to two degrees.But if the temperature starts to rise above that of which consist snowflakes - small ice crystals, will inexorably melt.In this case, most likely, we should expect loss of wet snow, and even rain.
