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Broad branches are always a beautiful trait, almost as if this snowflake is a set of seven, including the center. Combined with a splash of colour from thin film interference, there’s a lot of charm here – but there’s also a mystery. The thin sections of the branches have a feature I can’t easily explain.
Let’s use the 2 o’clock branch as a reference, though the same can be seen on all but the bottom branch. The harder area running along the “spine” of the branch is almost in the shape of a half-pipe, like a water slide; I suppose the better reference would be a linear stretch of bobsleigh track? At the top, it’s flush with the broad paddle at the end. At the bottom, it spills out into a larger pool. The easiest way to visualize the height difference is to look at the “wings” on either side of the half-pipe, notably hovering above a lower layer of ice below.
The standard models for snowflake growth have a hard time explaining how these features grow. Split growth can be explained a number of ways, where the most applicable here is that the end of an outward-growing branch tip becomes hollow in the center, creating two parallel planes. The half-pipe feature, however, defies this logic. It could be explained by inward crystal growth, starting on the outer edge of the paddles and working its way back towards the center. I have never seen it manifest in such formations, but it’s the only applicable “rule”.
I should also add that these features would mostly be invisible if not for the use of light reflecting off the surface of the crystal. Had this been photographed in the more traditional method of transmitted light (light that comes from behind the snowflake and passes through the crystal), you would not see the surface contours that identify this mystery. Significant and valuable details can only be seen when you bounce light off the snowflake, like glare off a window.
The bottom branch, however, beats to a different drum. The paddle is sectored, and in the same region as the bobsleigh track we have a ridge hollowed by two lower layers. Note the thickness of the small side-branches just south of the central hexagon as well. Broad branches and thickened features are both representative of consistent, slow growth. A similar dendrite-type snowflake would have grown at least twice as fast to reach the same outer footprint as this crystal.
Also, be sure to check out my latest snowflake coin from the Royal Canadian Mint, my fourth design and the second in the hexagonal pure silver series: www.mint.ca/en/shop/coins/2024/fine-silver-hexagon-coin-w...
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Ein guter Wochenstart. Foto: Petra Wruck
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Foto: Petra Wruck
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