/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.4366853]

You know, /sci/?

Snowflakes are fucking awesome
Like, there should've been cultures that dedicated their lives to praise snowflakes

[Anonymous No.4366856]

I still dont know why snowflakes have that shape

I mean, i know it is because water molecules formation and shit, but i still dont know really

[Anonymous No.4366861]

Water is fucking awesome
Like, there should've been cultures that dedicated their lives to praise water

[Anonymous No.4366875]

I still dont know why water has that composition

I mean, i know it is because hydrogen and oxygen union and shit, but i still dont know really

[Anonymous No.4367296]

I could give you a boring answer explaining bonding orbitals and electron pairs.

or,

From the perspective of a living organism that is the product of some kind of chemical process that gave rise to biological processes; if water hadn't, something else would have.

Its behaviour is rare, but not unique.

But hey,
Snowflakes, and ordered self assembly in general, is pretty awesome. Even more-so when you come to the realization that living organisms are just ordered self assembly made orders of magnitude more complex. Yay snowflakes.

[Someone !1LTek3FWf. No.4367320]

>>4366861
>nope.avi

[Anonymous No.4367324]

Why do snowflakes have 6 "corners"?

[Anonymous No.4367381]

>>4367324

Six fold symmetry is the natural result when water arranges itself into the 'most efficient' packed shape when it lines up its hydrogen bonds with other water molecules. Basically it forms miniature hexagons on the atomic level. As the crystal grows, it retains six primary axis for new molecules to bond with. Assuming new water molecules do not favor any particular face, the crystal spreads out evenly along those same six axis. Presto, hexagon.

The hexagon is a motif that frequently emerges from off-set close packing. Arrange six balls of equal size around a seventh ball of the same size to leave as little space between each object and you'll see this in action.

Water tends to form flat hexagons because its electron arrangement favors planar bonding and therefor crystal growth tends to occur in similarly planar lines.

Then there's the dendritic structure of the snowflake edges... that's something else again.

Other crystal structures are the result of different close packing methods, which are in turn, a result of their bonding symmetry.

[Anonymous No.4367392]

The sun if fucking awesome, like there should be cultures that dedicated their lives to praise the sun