It?s only November and we?ve already had snow. (Some of us have even taken out the Christmas decorations!) This Monday, Allen County was blanketed with it!
Everyone gets excited to see the first snowfall of the year. It?s beautiful! But why white? After all, water itself is colorless and transparent. And how does water even turn into the stuff of Christmas carols and poetry?
First, the basics: we know that water has three states depending upon the temperature and pressure. Below zero degrees Celsius, there?s snow. At normal temperature, water is well?.water. A liquid. And at high temperatures or at low pressure, water converts to steam.
When water becomes snow, the ice crystals in the snow scatter and reflect all colors. And all colors of light add up to white.
To help this make sense, here are two counterexamples. You know that hideous red Christmas sweater your grandma gave you, the one you stuffed in the bottom of your dresser? Well that sweater, unlike snow, absorbs all colors except red and reflects red back out for people to see. And your black coat absorbs all colors, so that you see it black.
Have you ever examined a snowflake closely? Like really looked at one? Snowflakes are beautiful and fascinating, some of the finest art created by Mother Nature.
The creation of this beautiful art starts thousands of feet above the earth in a cloud. A tiny droplet first freezes around a tiny dust particle. As water vapor starts condensing on its surface, the ice particle quickly develops facets, becoming a small hexagonal prism.A stellar snow crystal begins with the formation of a small hexagonal plate.
Ever wondered why all ice crystals have six corners? The arrangement of water molecules in the crystal structure provides insight to answer this question.
Water molecules contains an oxygen atom combined with two hydrogen atoms. When it?s a liquid, water molecules are not arranged in a particular order. However, when they crystalize, water molecules arrange themselves in a special order with six oxygen atoms in a six-fold symmetrical shape that gives the basis for the hexagons we see.
Like other crystals, the symmetry of a snow crystal reflects the arrangement of the atoms and molecules within the structure.
As the crystal becomes larger, the branches begin to sprout from the six corners of the hexagon. Since the atmospheric conditions like temperature and humidity are nearly constant across the small crystal, the six budding arms all grow at roughly the same rate.
