Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Flakey Just when I thought the German winter was over, it started snowing again today.  In fact, it has been snowing all day.  It's a mystery as to why school wasn't at least delayed for us.  Now the only mystery is how long the snow will last and how school will start tomorrow. As it snowed, my third period class got into a discussion about the uniqueness of snowflakes.  They wanted to know how out of the millions of snowflakes necessary to just cover the field outside the classroom window, and out of the "zillions" that were falling all over the world at that moment, how no two could be exactly alike.  Well, to understand this, you must have an understanding of the "No-two-alike Conjecture."  But even after seeing this graphic, I still don't get it. If you do a little more research, though, it is definitely possible to find two snowflakes that look exactly alike.  You'd just have to go down to the molecular level to see any differences -- and what is the fun in that? So for all practical purposes, there are plenty of snowflakes that are alike.  You just don't have to be so picky. Speaking of unique snowflakes, there's a place online where you can make your own.  In fact, the snowflake heading this post was done by yours truly.  Like the horse-head effect I achieved?  Yeah me, too.  But hold your applause and just go ahead and try to Make-A-Flake.  See if you can out-do mine.  You won't, but try anyway.  If you do have one that is particularly spiffy, go ahead and email it to me and maybe I'll post it. Snowflake fact:  the largest snowflake ever measured was 8x12 inches.  It fell in Siberia in 1971.  Maybe that one was actually unique. Related links: Snowflakes and Snow Crystals:  The online authority on the subject Paper snowflakes:  how to make 'em out of real paper and not the virtual kind 4:40:59 PM     |

© Copyright 2005 Alex L. Mauldin.