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| No two snowflakes are the same, but it’s hard to see the different patterns with the naked eye. A top tip for viewing snowflakes is to freeze a piece of black material or paper and take it outside when it is snowing. Catch some snowflakes and view them with a magnifying glass. The reason snowflakes are all different from one another is that they develop through natural fractal patterns. Ice crystals form in the air, these send out spines which become unstable, which then send out further spines from the sides and the process continues. The crystal solidifies and collects more water molecules. They are, however, always six-sided because of the unchanging molecular symmetry of ice. Did you know that snow is nearly all air? A whopping great 95% air to be precise. This makes snow is also a great insulator of heat. In fact, a sheep can survive for up to 2 weeks in the snow! |
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| Make a Snowflake | |
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Take a pipe cleaner and cut it into three equal lengths. Twist the three pieces to make a snowflake shape and attach a piece of string between each of the ends of the pipe cleaners as below: |
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Take a heavy jar, with a wide neck. Suspend the snowflake from a pencil and hang it in the jar. Mark the jar to indicate where the top of the snowflake is. Remove the snowflake and fill the jar with hot water up to the mark. Add 1/3 glass of borax powder and stir until it is all dissolved, (The water needs to be just off boiling temperature, and borax is a mild irritant – so take care!) |
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Suspend the snowflake in the solution and leave for 24 hours. When you come back, you should find a beautiful snowflake! |
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