Why are snowflakes hexagonal? Detailed answer

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Why are snowflakes hexagonal? Detailed answer

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Why are snowflakes hexagonal?

The snowflake is one of the most beautiful creations of nature. We would have to work hard to create a shape comparable in beauty to the shape of a snowflake. When it snows, millions of snowflakes fall to the ground, and no two are alike.

Snow, as you already know, is just frozen water. Why then is snow white if it is frozen water? It must be colorless. Snow is white because the planes of the snowflake, which are ice crystals, reflect light, which is why snow appears white.

When water freezes, crystals form. This means that the molecules line up in a special order, forming a geometric shape, which we call a "crystal".

It so happened that the water molecule consists of three particles - two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Therefore, during crystallization, it can form a three- or hexagonal figure.

Water turning into snow is a form of water vapor in the atmosphere. When freezing, water crystals are so small that they are not visible. When snow forms, these crystals are moved up and down by air currents in the atmosphere.

During such movements, they are grouped around the smallest particles of dust or water droplets. Such a group of crystals becomes more and more, several hundred such crystals can gather around one such nucleus.

This group becomes large, heavy and falls to the ground. We call it "snowflake". Some snowflakes reach three centimeters in diameter. The size of snowflakes depends on temperature. The lower the temperature, the smaller the snowflakes.

Do you know that in some parts of the planet colored snow fell: blue, green, red and even black? This is due to the presence in the air where snowflakes form, a certain fungus or dust.

Author: Likum A.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

What French word, having found itself in Russian, was borrowed back by the French?

The word "hat" came into Russian from French through German or Polish. Later, a reverse borrowing took place, and now the French, in addition to the word "chapeau", in the meaning of any headdress, have a tracery "chapka", referring only to a Russian-style fur hat with earflaps.

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