Top 6 How Many Lines Of Symmetry Does A Snowflake Have The 59 Detailed Answer

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In other words, there is only one direction in which you can draw a line that will result in two halves that are mirror images of each other. There is only one line of symmetry.The ice crystals that make up snowflakes are symmetrical (or patterned) because they reflect the internal order of the crystal’s water molecules as they arrange themselves in predetermined spaces (known as “crystallization”) to form a six-sided snowflake.Although snowflakes are never perfectly symmetrical, the growth of a non-aggregated snowflake often approximates six-fold radial symmetry, arising from the hexagonal crystalline structure of ice. At that stage, the snowflake has the shape of a minute hexagon.

Does a snowflake have symmetry?

The ice crystals that make up snowflakes are symmetrical (or patterned) because they reflect the internal order of the crystal’s water molecules as they arrange themselves in predetermined spaces (known as “crystallization”) to form a six-sided snowflake.

What type of symmetry is a snowflake?

Although snowflakes are never perfectly symmetrical, the growth of a non-aggregated snowflake often approximates six-fold radial symmetry, arising from the hexagonal crystalline structure of ice. At that stage, the snowflake has the shape of a minute hexagon.

Why do snowflakes have 6 fold symmetry?

Water molecules in the solid state, such as in ice and snow, form weak bonds (called hydrogen bonds) to one another. These ordered arrangements result in the basic symmetrical, hexagonal shape of the snowflake.

What is the order of symmetry of a snowflake?

In mathematical terms, we say that the snowflakes have rotational symmetry of order 4.

Can a snowflake have 8 sides?

So there is only a certain way they can fit together and what comes out is that they are always in a six-cornered shape, even at the tiniest molecular scale,” he says. Actually, water molecules occasionally form ice crystals with three or 12 sides — either half or double the usual number — but never five or eight.

Do all snowflakes have 6 sides?

All snowflakes contain six sides or points owing to the way in which they form. The molecules in ice crystals join to one another in a hexagonal structure, an arrangement which allows water molecules – each with one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms – to form together in the most efficient way.

Is snowflake radial symmetry?

No two snowflakes are alike, but do all have one thing in common — perfect sixfold radial symmetry.

Is snowflake a bilateral symmetry?

Snowflakes display six-fold rotational symmetry.

How many angles does a snowflake have?

The 7 electron opposes both the 1 and 4 electrons at 120 degrees — they are all in one plane, dividing 360 degrees into 3 120 degree angles — this is the source of the hexagonal snowflake formation.

What are the 7 main shapes of a snowflake?

This system defines the seven principal snow crystal types as plates, stellar crystals, columns, needles, spatial dendrites, capped columns, and irregular forms.

What is 6 fold symmetry?

hexagonal system

…a single line, called an axis of 6-fold symmetry, about which the cell can be rotated by either 60° or 120° without changing its appearance.

How many snowflake shapes are there?

While no one snowflake is exactly the same as another on a molecular level, it turns out that all snowflakes fall into one of 35 different shapes, researchers say.

Is all snow snowflakes?

A snowflake, on the other hand, is a more general term. It can mean an individual snow crystal, but it can also mean just about anything that falls from the winter clouds. Often hundreds or even thousands of snow crystals collide and stick together in mid-air as they fall, forming flimsy puff-balls we call snowflakes.

Does a snowflake have rotational symmetry?

Snowflakes display six-fold rotational symmetry. Snow crystals are formed in such a way that they always have 6 arms, displaying symmetric patterns on each.

Are snowflakes the same on both sides?

Even identical twins, who have the same DNA, have unique fingerprints. So how is it possible that every snowflake is unique when so many — an almost unfathomable number — exist? It may seem like this is a myth that would be easy to bust, but it is true. No two snowflakes are alike.

What is the angle of snowflake?

Like the 120 degree angle formed regularly in snowflakes, liquid or gaseous water has a consistent angular formation. With the hydrogen atoms always sharing two sets of two electrons on one side of the Oxgen nucleus. And the two Hydrogen nuclei always forming an angle of about 104.4 degrees with each other.

What is symmetry snowflakes and honeycombs?

Due to each arm of the snowflake experiencing the same environmental conditions, it crystallises in the exact same way, producing a symmetrical snowflake. Honeycombs are an example of wallpaper symmetry.


Snowflake symmetry 1
Snowflake symmetry 1


Snowflakes: Symmetry : Montana Science Partnership

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How do snowflakes form? Get the science behind snow | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

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How do snowflakes form? Get the science behind snow | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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Snowflake – Wikipedia

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Formation[edit]

Classification[edit]

Use as a symbol[edit]

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Snazzy Snowflakes | NZ Maths

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how many lines of symmetry does a snowflake have

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Faculty of Science | Symmetry Of Snowflakes

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Snazzy Snowflakes | NZ Maths

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Snowflakes: Symmetry

Snowflakes provide wonderful examples of symmetry. It is useful to engage students in examining symmetry.

There are two basic types of symmetry:

Rotational symmetry (also known as Radial symmetry)

Reflection symmetry (also known as Bilateral, or Mirror symmetry)

In rotational symmetry, you can cut the image in half in more than one direction, and the two halves will appear as mirror images of each other. The object has more than one line of symmetry. For example, a triangle can be cut along three different axes. A circle can be cut along an infinite number of axes.

Check Your Thinking: The two images below are examples of rotational symmetry. How many lines of symmetry are possible in each?

In reflection symmetry, you can cut the image in half in only one plane. In other words, there is only one direction in which you can draw a line that will result in two halves that are mirror images of each other. There is only one line of symmetry. For example, for the two pictures below, there is only one way you can fold each one that will result in the two halves being equal.

Check Your Thinking: The two photos below are examples of reflection symmetry. Can you identify the line of symmetry in each?

Download the Snowflake Shapes & Activities document (pdf) for a variety of activities you can do with your students related to snowflake shapes and symmetry. Activities referenced in the document are also listed under the Extension Activities section of this module, and online activities and resources referenced in the document are also listed under the Resources section.

Optional: For more detailed scientific information about snowflakes, view or download The physics of snow crystals (pdf) article by Dr. Kenneth G. Libbrecht.

Snowflake

Single ice crystal or an aggregation of ice crystals which falls through the Earth’s atmosphere

This article is about ice crystals, which form snow. For other uses, see Snowflake (disambiguation)

Freshly fallen snowflakes

Macro photography of natural snowflake

A snowflake is a single ice crystal that has achieved a sufficient size, and may have amalgamated with others, which falls through the Earth’s atmosphere as snow.[1][2][3] Each flake nucleates around a dust particle in supersaturated air masses by attracting supercooled cloud water droplets, which freeze and accrete in crystal form. Complex shapes emerge as the flake moves through differing temperature and humidity zones in the atmosphere, such that individual snowflakes differ in detail from one another, but may be categorized in eight broad classifications and at least 80 individual variants. The main constituent shapes for ice crystals, from which combinations may occur, are needle, column, plate, and rime. Snow appears white in color despite being made of clear ice. This is due to diffuse reflection of the whole spectrum of light by the small crystal facets of the snowflakes.[4]

Formation [ edit ] [5] Naturally formed snowflakes differ from one another through happenstance of formation. The characteristic six branches is related with the crystal structure of ice

Snowflakes nucleate around mineral or organic particles in moisture-saturated, subfreezing air masses. They grow by net accretion to the incipient crystals in hexagonal formations. The cohesive forces are primarily electrostatic.

Nucleus [ edit ]

In warmer clouds, an aerosol particle or “ice nucleus” must be present in (or in contact with) the droplet to act as a nucleus. The particles that make ice nuclei are very rare compared to nuclei upon which liquid cloud droplets form; however, it is not understood what makes them efficient. Clays, desert dust, and biological particles may be effective,[6] although to what extent is unclear. Artificial nuclei include particles of silver iodide and dry ice, and these are used to stimulate precipitation in cloud seeding.[7] Experiments show that “homogeneous” nucleation of cloud droplets only occurs at temperatures lower than −35 °C (−31 °F).[8]

Growth [ edit ]

Once a water droplet has frozen as an ice nucleus, it grows in a supersaturated environment—wherein liquid moisture coexists with ice beyond its equilibrium point at temperatures below the freezing. The droplet then grows by deposition of water molecules in the air (vapor) onto the ice crystal surface where they are collected. Because water droplets are so much more numerous than the ice crystals due to their sheer abundance, the crystals are able to grow to hundreds of micrometers or millimeters in size at the expense of the water droplets. This process is known as the Wegener–Bergeron–Findeisen process. The corresponding depletion of water vapor causes the droplets to evaporate, meaning that the ice crystals grow at the droplets’ expense. These large crystals are an efficient source of precipitation, since they fall through the atmosphere due to their mass, and may collide and stick together in clusters, or aggregates. These aggregates are usually the type of ice particle that falls to the ground.[9] Guinness World Records lists the world’s largest aggregated snowflakes as those of January 1887 at Fort Keogh, Montana, which were claimed to be 15 inches (38 cm) wide—well outside the normally documented range of aggregated flakes of three or four inches in width. Single crystals the size of a dime (17.91 mm in diameter) have been observed.[3] Snowflakes encapsulated in rime form balls known as graupel.

Appearance [ edit ]

Color [ edit ]

Snow crystals in strong direct sunlight act like small prisms

Although ice by itself is clear, snow usually appears white in color due to diffuse reflection of the whole spectrum of light by the scattering of light by the small crystal facets of the snowflakes of which it is comprised.[4]

Shape [ edit ]

The shape of the snowflake is determined broadly by the temperature and humidity at which it is formed.[9] Rarely, at a temperature of around −2 °C (28 °F), snowflakes can form in threefold symmetry — triangular snowflakes.[10] Most snow particles are irregular in form, despite their common depiction as symmetrical. It is unlikely that any two snowflakes are alike due to the estimated 1019 (10 quintillion) water molecules which make up a typical snowflake,[11] which grow at different rates and in different patterns depending on the changing temperature and humidity within the atmosphere that the snowflake falls through on its way to the ground.[12] Snowflakes that look identical, but may vary at the molecular level, have been grown under controlled conditions.[13]

Although snowflakes are never perfectly symmetrical, the growth of a non-aggregated snowflake often approximates six-fold radial symmetry, arising from the hexagonal crystalline structure of ice.[14] At that stage, the snowflake has the shape of a minute hexagon. The six “arms” of the snowflake, or dendrites, then grow independently from each of the corners of the hexagon, while either side of each arm grows independently. The microenvironment in which the snowflake grows changes dynamically as the snowflake falls through the cloud and tiny changes in temperature and humidity affect the way in which water molecules attach to the snowflake. Since the micro-environment (and its changes) are very nearly identical around the snowflake, each arm tends to grow in nearly the same way. However, being in the same micro-environment does not guarantee that each arm grows the same; indeed, for some crystal forms it does not because the underlying crystal growth mechanism also affects how fast each surface region of a crystal grows.[15] Empirical studies suggest less than 0.1% of snowflakes exhibit the ideal six-fold symmetric shape.[16] Very occasionally twelve branched snowflakes are observed; they maintain the six-fold symmetry.[17]

Classification [ edit ]

Snowflakes form in a wide variety of intricate shapes, leading to the notion that “no two are alike”. Although nearly-identical snowflakes have been made in laboratory, they are very unlikely to be found in nature.[19][11][20][21] Initial attempts to find identical snowflakes by photographing thousands of them with a microscope from 1885 onward by Wilson Alwyn Bentley found the wide variety of snowflakes we know about today.

Ukichiro Nakaya developed a crystal morphology diagram, relating crystal shape to the temperature and moisture conditions under which they formed, which is summarized in the following table:[22]

Crystal structure morphology as a function of temperature and water saturation Temperature range Saturation range (g/m3) Types of snow crystal below saturation Types of snow crystal above saturation 0 °C (32 °F) to −3.5 °C (26 °F) 0.0 to 0.5 Solid plates Thin plates Dendrites −3.5 °C (26 °F) to −10 °C (14 °F) 0.5 to 1.2 Solid prisms Hollow prisms Hollow prisms Needles −10 °C (14 °F) to −22 °C (−8 °F) 1.2 to 1.2 Thin plates Solid plates Sectored plates Dendrites −22 °C (−8 °F) to −40 °C (−40 °F) 0.0 to 0.4 Thin plates Solid plates Columns Prisms

Wilson Bentley micrograph showing two classes of snowflake, plate and column. Missing is an example of a needle.

The shape of a snowflake is determined primarily by the temperature and humidity at which it is formed.[9] Freezing air down to −3 °C (27 °F) promotes planar crystals (thin and flat). In colder air down to −8 °C (18 °F), the crystals form as hollow columns, prisms or needles. In air as cold as −22 °C (−8 °F), shapes become plate-like again, often with branched or dendritic features. At temperatures below −22 °C (−8 °F), the crystals become plate-like or columnar, depending on the degree of saturation. As Nakaya discovered, shape is also a function of whether the prevalent moisture is above or below saturation. Forms below the saturation line trend more towards solid and compact. Crystals formed in supersaturated air trend more towards lacy, delicate and ornate. Many more complex growth patterns also form such as side-planes, bullet-rosettes and also planar types depending on the conditions and ice nuclei.[23][24][25] If a crystal has started forming in a column growth regime, at around −5 °C (23 °F), and then falls into the warmer plate-like regime, then plate or dendritic crystals sprout at the end of the column, producing so called “capped columns”.[9]

Magono and Lee devised a classification of freshly formed snow crystals that includes 80 distinct shapes. They are listed in the following main categories (with symbol):[26]

Needle crystal (N) – Subdivided into: Simple and combination of needles

Columnar crystal (C) – Subdivided into: Simple and combination of columns

Plate crystal (P) – Subdivided into: Regular crystal in one plane, plane crystal with extensions, crystal with irregular number of branches, crystal with 12 branches, malformed crystal, radiating assemblage of plane branches

Combination of columnar and plate crystals (CP) – Subdivided into: Column with plane crystal at both ends, bullet with plane crystals, plane crystal with spatial extensions at ends

Columnar crystal with extended side planes (S) – Subdivided into: Side planes, scalelike side planes, combination of side planes, bullets, and columns

Rimed crystal (R) – Subdivided into: Rimed crystal, densely rimed crystal, graupellike crystal, graupel

Irregular snow crystal (I) – Subdivided into: Ice particle, rimed particle, broken piece from a crystal, miscellaneous

Germ of snow crystal (G) – Subdivided into: Minute column, germ of skeleton form, minute hexagonal plate, minute stellar crystal, minute assemblage of plates, irregular germ

They documented each with micrographs.

The International Classification for Seasonal Snow on the Ground describes snow crystal classification, once it is deposited on the ground, that include grain shape and grain size. The system also characterizes the snowpack, as the individual crystals metamorphize and coalesce.[27]

Use as a symbol [ edit ]

Snowflake in the coat of arms of Lumijoki

The snowflake is often a traditional seasonal image or motif used around the Christmas season, especially in Europe and North America. As a Christian celebration, Christmas celebrates the incarnation of Jesus, who according to Christian belief atones for the sins of humanity; so, in European and North American Christmas traditions, snowflakes symbolize purity.[28][29] Snowflakes are also traditionally associated with the “White Christmas” weather that often occurs during Christmastide.[29] During this period, it is quite popular to make paper snowflakes by folding a piece of paper several times, cutting out a pattern with scissors and then unfolding it.[30][31] The Book of Isaiah refers to the atonement of sins causing them to appear “white as snow” before God (cf. Isaiah 1:18);[29]

Snowflakes are also often used as symbols representing winter or cold conditions. For example, snow tires which enhance traction during harsh winter driving conditions are labelled with a snowflake on the mountain symbol.[32] A stylized snowflake has been part of the emblem of the 1968 Winter Olympics, 1972 Winter Olympics, 1984 Winter Olympics, 1988 Winter Olympics, 1998 Winter Olympics and 2002 Winter Olympics.[33][34]

The three grades in the Order of Canada (Companion, Officer and Member, respectively) .

A six pointed stylized hexagonal snowflake used for the Order of Canada (a national honor system ) has come to symbolize Canadians northern heritage and diversity.[35]

In heraldry, the snowflake is a stylized charge. Three different snowflake symbols are encoded in Unicode: “snowflake” at U+2744 (❄); “tight trifoliate snowflake” at U+2745 (❅); and “heavy chevron snowflake” at U+2746 (❆).

Gallery [ edit ]

A selection of photographs taken by Wilson Bentley (1865–1931):

See also [ edit ]

Koch snowflake – Mathematical curve resembling a snowflake.

Sekka Zusetsu – Guide to snowflake forms written in Japan in the 19th century.

– Guide to snowflake forms written in Japan in the 19th century. Selburose — An eight-pointed floral design that may be mistaken for a snowflake.

Timeline of snowflake research

References [ edit ]

Why are snowflakes symmetrical? How can ice crystallizing on one arm ‘know’ the shape of the other arms on the flake?

Snowflakes are symmetrical because they reflect the internal order of the water molecules as they arrange themselves in the solid state (the process of crystallization). Water molecules in the solid state, such as in ice and snow, form weak bonds (called hydrogen bonds) to one another. These ordered arrangements result in the basic symmetrical, hexagonal shape of the snowflake. In reality, there are many different types of snowflakes (as in the clich that ‘no two snowflakes are alike’); this differentiation occurs because each snowflake is a separate crystal that is subject to the specific atmospheric conditions, notably temperature and humidity, under which it is formed.

The second question has to do with the way in which snowflakes are formed. The growth of snowflakes (or of any substance changing from a liquid to a solid state) is known as crystallization. During this process, the molecules (in this case, water molecules) align themselves to maximize attractive forces and minimize repulsive ones. As a result, the water molecules arrange themselves in predetermined spaces and in a specific arrangement. This process is much like tiling a floor in accordance with a specific pattern: once the pattern is chosen and the first tiles are placed, then all the other tiles must go in predetermined spaces in order to maintain the pattern of symmetry. Water molecules simply arrange themselves to fit the spaces and maintain symmetry; in this way, the different arms of the snowflake are formed.

Howard T. Evans, Jr., an x-ray crystallographer who is now scientist emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey, adds a few details:

Snowflakes are mysterious things. Their fundamental form derives from the arrangement of the water molecules in the ice crystal. When a liquid freezes, the molecules tend to settle in the lowest-energy state, and that almost always involves some form of symmetry. The higher the symmetry, the more stable the crystal is.

Water molecules floating freely in a vapor begin to arrange themselves into a crystalline solid when the temperature drops below freezing. The two hydrogen atoms of the molecules tend to attract neighboring water molecules. When the temperature (thermal motion) is low enough, the molecules link together to form a solid, open framework that has a strict hexagonal symmetry.

But why are snowflake shapes so elaborate? Nobody has a good answer for that. The general explanation is that snowflakes form in the atmosphere where conditions are very complex and variable. A crystal might begin to grow in one manner and then minutes or even seconds later something changes (temperature or humidity), so it starts to grow in another manner. The hexagonal symmetry is maintained, but the ice crystal may branch off in new directions. The changes in environmental conditions take place over a large area compared with the size of a single snowflake, so all regions of the flake are similarly affected. In the end, there are all kinds of forms that can arise: everything from prisms and needles to the familiar lacy snowflakes. Water is an amazing substance!

Answer originally posted October 21, 1999.

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