Although we haven’t seen too many snowflakes this winter, I think you’ll find this week’s learning opportunity fascinating!
image from pdclipart.org
Science Friday (www.sciencefriday.com) is a great resource to bookmark and check out on a regular basis! You’ll find articles, videos, audio files and more related to anything and everything science!
For this week’s learning opportunity, watch Snowflake Safari on the Science Friday website. When you’re finished, post a comment about something new you learned. Extend your learning by doing a little more research on that topic.
Snowflake Safari Link: http://sciencefriday.com/video/12/31/2009/snowflake-safari.html
The way these snowflakes are able to grow in such intricate patterns- so amazing! I think it’s quite extraordinary how there are ‘rare’ kinds of snowflakes, and they can even be shaped like columns- I certainly did not know that!
Kelly K.
Swanson
It was neat how in the video you could see how a snow flake grows
Same with me, Kelly! I had no idea that there could be “rare” snowflakes. I think it’s very interesting how they grow and form and the way they travel through the cloud collecting more and more water and then freezing again is quite amazing!
I wish there was a way to save actual snowflakes, that would be so cool. I never knew that different kinds of snowflakes grew in different kinds of weather. This was a very interesting article.
I didn’t know that there were about 35 different kinds of snowflakes. Also I didn’t know that snowflakes grow in different patterns like on snowflake can have 6 sides and another can have 12 sides.
It is really interesting that he is able to make his own snowflakes. It is amazing that there are over 35 different types of snowflakes
This video was very interesting and makes me want to go out on a snow safari! I think the most interesting fact and what I learned from the video, was that snowflakes come in roughly thirty five shapes and sizes, some that are more rare then others. They can even come in columns and some even have twelve sides. My favorite was the twelve sided snowflake that looked so much different then I would ever expect a snowflake to look like. I have always expected a normal six sided snowflake. The whole video is so great and very interesting, I learned so much from it!
I think its so amazing to grow your own snowflakes I thought that was impossible. I also learned that snowflakes are formed by traveling around the inside of clouds and stick together to form different types of crystals thats so cool and interesting.
It is so cool how the snowflakes form! It was super fascinating. If I did a little bit more research and watched this video another time I cold probably do a report on it!
I thought that snowflakes were just crystals that were called snow that fell from the sky.
It was amazing that Kenneth G. Libbrecht studied snowflakes falling,forming and shape I new that there were more than one kind of snowflake but I didn’t know there were so many kinds the rarest is elusive 12-sided snowflake they are rare the most common you will find unfortunately is a kind of snowflake that looks like frozen sand I am defiantly going to research more on this amazing topic I think everyone should read this amazing,interesting,pretty,fun video on Science Friday you will love it!
Watch it please it is amazing!
I learned that snowflakes look like they do because are moving in a cloud.
I learned that there are so many different kinds of snowflakes. I knew that all snowflakes are different but i didn’t know there are certain kinds. It’s so cool how some snowflakes are rare and some are not. I love how they form in the clouds and how they are made. I’m going to be looking out for some really cool snowflakes when it’s snowing or it’s a snow day! 🙂
I can’t believe snowflakes are formed from a piece of gunk.
-Elizabeth
This video was very interesting! It is weird how these snowflakes form, but also very cool. 🙂 I think that snowflakes are very unique and beautiful. But then again so is cold and when there is lots of it we get a snow day. And yet we have only had a few of those this season. It’s like we missed it! It went right over Omaha and hit everywhere else!!! 🙁
I want to grow my own snowflake now! Snowflakes are all different shapes and sizes. If you use different material will it change ?
That’s an interesting question! What kind of different materials are you thinking of using?
Maybe stick a straw in some ice and put water in the straw with peanut butter and then freeze it. Would the electrolytes in gatorade do something if you freeze it?
Hi Alex-
I think both of those sound like great experiments! What is your hypothesis?
If you end up conducting your experiments, please take pictures and then we can post them on the site!
I made salt crystals instead. I made a website to show you.
http://www.infoandideas.net/sce.html
That is amazing Alex! Way to ask a question and test it out!
Wow! I loved all the beautiful snowflakes they showed on the video. I learned that snowflakes could have column shapes and some are rare.
How they (the scientists) can pull a trick like that; building a snow flake I don’t know, but however they did it, it’s awesome!
I learned that there are actually “rare” snowflakes.
I think it is very unfortunate that most snowflakes look like junk, because that would make it difficult to study them. It more or less impossible for snowflakes to form that are completely alike, and I was quite surprised when they only called it unlikely. Also, what exactly did they mean with that there are 35 different flavors?
Wouldn’t it be cool if there were actually flavors of snowflakes Kenan? Unfortuantely, I think the author was using a figure of speech and just saying there were 35 different unique shapes for snowflakes. Check out this site for some additional information. http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/class/class.htm
Looks like we might be seeing some more flakes this week!
That’s a cool website! Check out this one:
http://www.noaa.gov/features/02_monitoring/snowflakes_2013.html
Wow. I thought Omaha was a snowflake hotspot! I should try magnifying snowflakes. I wonder if it will look as spectacular as it does on the video?
This video was very interesting! It would be so cool to grow your own snowflakes. I learned that Japan is a snowflake hotspot, which is something I didn’t think Japan was. I also learned that there are 35 different flavors of snowflakes. I knew that no two snowflakes are alike, but I just assumed most of them had similar shapes. They said about 5 degrees is good for nice snowflakes and I don’t think the temperature right now is too far from that. I have looked at snowflakes under a magnifying glass before, but not recently, and I remember that they do look really cool. I wonder how many flavors of snowflakes Omaha has gotten.
I never knew how amazing snowflakes are! I wonder if they follow Fibonacci numbers? Who knew how complex the life cycle of a snowflake is. It’s cool because there are people who study the phenomenon of a snowflake. They just seem they’re not to be studied, but maybe the research will be handy someday.
I never knew snowflakes were so cool and awesome!!
I thought that it was super cool!
I think that this video is magnificent because of the way he makes his own snowflakes is just incredible. I can’t even believe how he discovers what the snowflakes truly look like.
I think it is so cool that snowflakes can come in so many different designs and that some are “rarer” than others. I also found out that snowflakes are formed when two water molecules merge together and temperatures then freeze them and oxygen causes the designs to grow.
Wow! It is very cool how the snowflakes aren’t alive yet they still grow. I learned on http://news.discovery.com/earth/snowflakes-up-close-and-personal-macro-photos-131211.htm that the best way to see snowflakes in sunlight is to have them on a dark fabric. This is true: My friend has a black backpack that one day we brought outside when it was snowing. Snowflakes that landed on the backpack we could see very clearly.
It is interesting how if humidity is low snowflakes grow slow but if it is high they grow fast!