SEARCH:
Sign in | Join | Help
search Mercola.com
 
FREE Subscription 
The World’s Most Popular Natural Health Newsletter
Share this article
Previous Article
Next Article
Is it True That No Two Snowflakes are Alike?
Posted by: Dr. Mercola
February 08 2007 | 804 views

Snow

Researchers are challenging the commonly held belief that no two snowflakes are the same. While this may be true for larger snowflakes, there probably are small snowflakes that are alike, experts say.

If you're planning to go out and see for yourself, though, you'll need to have a lot of time on your hands.

Researchers say that if you compared 1 million snowflake pairs for just 1 second each, it would take you 100,000 years!

This Live Science article has a host of amazing snowflake facts, such as how snowflakes are formed, how many snowflakes fall each year and how they take on such unique shapes. Here are more highlights from the article:

  • The number of snow crystal shapes exceeds the estimated number of atoms in the known universe
  • Most snowflakes are less than one-half inch across, but they can range from as small as four-thousandths of an inch to as large as two inches
  • The number of snow crystals that fall worldwide each year is an estimated "1 followed by 24 zeros"
  • A cubic foot of snow can contain about 1 billion snowflakes

If you're interested in snowflakes, in addition to reading the article below you can check out these amazing snowflake pictures.

 


Sources:

Related Links:



Share this article
Previous Article
Next Article
Comment on This Article Community Comments (0)

 
Share this article
Previous Article
Next Article
 
 
© Copyright 2009 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved. If you want to use this article on your site please click here. This content may be copied in full, with copyright, contact, creation and information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Dr. Mercola is required.
* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition, consult your physician before using this product.