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Re: Snowflake symmetry



On Thu, 04 Jun 1998 09:01:56 -0400 Maurice Barnhill said:
I read somewhere recently that most real snowflakes are very
unsymmetrical. On the other hand, photographs of snowflakes are
symmetrical, since the rare symmetrical flakes are much more
photogenic. That makes sense; I can't think of any plausible mechanism
to tell one side of a snowflake the details of how the other side is
growing.
--
Quite the contrary, nature routinely grows symmetrical crystals. The easiest
way I know to demonstrate this is to grow crystals from solution. Try alum or
even common table salt. In the end it all comes down to kinetics, which must
be a function of electric fields.