How are snowflakes made?
Here are some basic facts about snowflakes. The making of snowflakes is actually a very complicated process! Snowflakes are not frozen rain, they are made out of water vapour. The droplets of liquid water in a cloud do not all freeze at the same time. One droplet may freeze at the same time that others are evaporating and becoming water vapour! * Here’s a simplified version: Water vapour in a cloud condenses around a tiny dust particle. If it is cold enough, this tiny droplet freezes into ice. Water vapour then condenses right onto this tiny frozen droplet, forming snow crystals which “grow” out in branches. * Ice crystals have a pattern of 6 sides (not 4 or 8!) because they are made from water. Water molecules are made up of 2 Hydrogen atoms and 1 Oxygen atom (H20), so… when two of them attach together… 3 plus 3 atoms = 6! It’s not actually that simple… but that will do for now! Snowflake Primer 4. Answers to a few of our questions: These answers were obtained for the Snowflake
