Snowflake Shape Predictability
Kirt's Cogitations™ #82

RF Cafe University "Factoids," "Kirt's Cogitations," and "Tech Topics Smorgasbord" are all manifestations of my ranting on various subjects relevant (usually) to the overall RF Cafe theme. All may be accessed on these pages:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37

Snowflake Shape Predictability

If you live or spend a lot of time where snow is commonplace, you have probably noticed that not all snow is the same. If you also suspected that temperature seemed to have some bearing on its texture, you were correct. Research has determined that snowflakes - crystals, actually - that form in temperatures between 27° F and 32° F, and between -13° F and 18° F are shaped like hexagonal plates. Those that form at and a little above 32° F are shaped like needles and columns. Familiar 6-armed snowflakes (technically called dendrites) form at temperatures between 3° F and 10° F. The formation temperature ranges are amazingly consistent, even in the presence of contaminants.

RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...