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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

HOWTO grow your own snowflakes

HOWTO grow your own snowflakes: " Data Galleries Dn16170-Snowflakes Hollow-Columns



 Data Galleries Dn16170-Snowflakes Triangular1





Caltech physicist Ken Libbrecht wrote the book on snowflakes. Actually, several of them. The author of the Field Guide to Snwoflakes and The Secret Life of a Snowflake posted a HOWTO guide for growing your own snow crystals. (No, they probably won't look like the 'hollow column snowflake' or 'triangular crystal snowflake' above that Libbrecht photographed with a custom snowflake photomicroscope. For more of those incredible natural flakes, see this gallery at New Scientist.) From Libbrecht's Web site:



 Product Image 88735184 Field-Guide-To-Snowflakes


The parts list for this experiment is as follows:


>One used 20-oz plastic Coke bottle


>Three large-diameter styrofoam cups (or something similar; see below)


>A small kitchen sponge (1/2 inch thick)


>A short length of nylon fishing line (thinner is better; 1-pound test is good)


>A strong sewing needle


>Four straight pins


>One paper clip


>Some paper towels



'Grow Your Own Snowflakes' (via Science Friday)


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