Snowflake Science

Fun Facts about Snow

What is Snow?

When water freezes inside clouds, ice crystals form. Ice crystals are crystals that have formed around tiny bits of dirt that have been carried up into the atmosphere by the wind. The ice crystals join together creating snow flakes. Once the flakes are heavy enough they fall to the ground as snow. Each snowflake is made up of from 2 to about 200 separate crystals. In addition to a normal snow fall, snow can drift to the ground lightly as flurries, fall heavily as a snowstorm, or pile up quickly by being blown by strong winds in a blizzard.

What Color is Snow?

Believe it or not, snow is actually clear/transparent. Snow appears white because the crystals act as prisms, breaking up the light of the sun into the entire spectrum of color. The human eye is unable to handle that kind of sensory overload. Therefore, we see the snow as white or sometimes blue.

How many Snowflake shapes are there?

Scientists believe there are five common shapes of snow crystals; long needles or flat six-sided crystals, hollow column that is shaped like a six-sided prism, thin and flat six-sided plates, six-pointed stars and intricate dendrites.

What makes the different shapes?

The shape that a snow crystal will take depends on the temperature at which it was formed. Colder temperatures produce snowflakes with sharper tips on the sides of the crystals and may lead to branching of the snowflake arms (dendrites). Snowflakes that grow under warmer conditions grow more slowly, resulting in smoother, less intricate shapes.

• 32-25° F – Thin hexagonal plates
• 25-21° F – Needles
• 21-14° F – Hollow columns
• 14-10° F – Sector plates (hexagons with indentations)
• 10-3° F – Dendrites (lacy hexagonal shapes)

The colder it is outside, the smaller the snowflakes that fall. The fluffiest snow falls at temperatures around 15°F.

Hexagonal Plate                                  Needles

6 Pointed Star                                     Dendrites















Hollow Columns                               Sectored Plates















Now it's time to make your own snowflake!

Objectives:
They're simple and fun to do, so why not make some colorful snowflakes this winter? They make great window decorations, they can  be attached to Christmas gifts or you can hang them from your Christmas tree.

What you need:

• Paper (make sure it is a square)
• Scissors

What you do:

1. Get a square piece of paper or trim a piece of paper so that it is square.

2. Fold your square in half diagonally.

3. Fold your triangle in half- again diagonally.

4. Fold paper in thirds...one side to the front, the other to the back.

5. Trim the extra piece of paper off the end of your small triangle.

6. Around the outside of your triangle, cut some fun designs- circles, squares, triangles, squiggles...anything goes.

7. Unfold your paper and look at your masterpiece.

8. Viola! You made your own snowflake.