Snowflake-a-Day No. 33
Scientists, mineralogists, atmospheric physicists – lend me your eyes! How the heck is a perfectly spherical “ring” possible inside of this tiny snowflake?
There’s not a lot going on with this snowflake, aside from the very curious center. It leaves me puzzled, as the standard models for either edge-created bubbles or dimple-covered bubbles cannot account for a ring, circular on the inside and outside, for being created. I love this, as the existing models have a very hard time and it just keeps me thinking about what we don’t know.
The outer structures are bubbles that likely began as dimples that then were covered by a ceiling of ice, and the depth around the center is inward crystal growth – these things can be easily explained. Why does the center elude such explanations then?
If a snowflake were to split in two because a bubble formed and separated a solid plate into two thinner parallel plates, it would almost always happen in a way that favours the corners differently from the inside areas, as access to water vapour is different in a hexagon. I know the snowflake couldn’t have been growing as a circle at this stage, and nothing I can imagine evokes a circular design. As soon as it began, it ended, also in a circle. Curious.
I’ve seen outer edges as circles before, and those I couldn’t explain either. Here’s an example from earlier this season: www.flickr.com/photos/donkom/46243606712/ - but still, it had a hexagonal inner edge. Whatever can create a smooth circle in a bubble on one side might be able to create it on the other as well. Still need to unravel this a little more.
A simple snowflake, but one I can’t stop thinking about. Also worth noting that this was shot on a Lumix G9 with an adapter to use the Canon MP-E 65mm super macro lens. This snowflake is TINY, and yet the edges of every line are crisp. Micro four thirds is a very desirably system for subjects at these miniscule scales, and the G9 is the best such camera I have ever used. :)
For lighting, I continue to use and enjoy the K&F Concept KF-150 ring flash, in manual mode. It’s a lovely piece of equipment not designed for Lumix but works like a charm when I’m not caring about TTL metering. The right tool for the right job, and I’m glad this one doesn’t break the bank. The same company also made the lens adapter to couple the MP-E 65mm lens to the smaller-sensor camera body.
Want more physics puzzle and photographic techniques? Check out a copy of Sky Crystals: www.skycrystals.ca/
Snowflake-a-Day No. 33
Scientists, mineralogists, atmospheric physicists – lend me your eyes! How the heck is a perfectly spherical “ring” possible inside of this tiny snowflake?
There’s not a lot going on with this snowflake, aside from the very curious center. It leaves me puzzled, as the standard models for either edge-created bubbles or dimple-covered bubbles cannot account for a ring, circular on the inside and outside, for being created. I love this, as the existing models have a very hard time and it just keeps me thinking about what we don’t know.
The outer structures are bubbles that likely began as dimples that then were covered by a ceiling of ice, and the depth around the center is inward crystal growth – these things can be easily explained. Why does the center elude such explanations then?
If a snowflake were to split in two because a bubble formed and separated a solid plate into two thinner parallel plates, it would almost always happen in a way that favours the corners differently from the inside areas, as access to water vapour is different in a hexagon. I know the snowflake couldn’t have been growing as a circle at this stage, and nothing I can imagine evokes a circular design. As soon as it began, it ended, also in a circle. Curious.
I’ve seen outer edges as circles before, and those I couldn’t explain either. Here’s an example from earlier this season: www.flickr.com/photos/donkom/46243606712/ - but still, it had a hexagonal inner edge. Whatever can create a smooth circle in a bubble on one side might be able to create it on the other as well. Still need to unravel this a little more.
A simple snowflake, but one I can’t stop thinking about. Also worth noting that this was shot on a Lumix G9 with an adapter to use the Canon MP-E 65mm super macro lens. This snowflake is TINY, and yet the edges of every line are crisp. Micro four thirds is a very desirably system for subjects at these miniscule scales, and the G9 is the best such camera I have ever used. :)
For lighting, I continue to use and enjoy the K&F Concept KF-150 ring flash, in manual mode. It’s a lovely piece of equipment not designed for Lumix but works like a charm when I’m not caring about TTL metering. The right tool for the right job, and I’m glad this one doesn’t break the bank. The same company also made the lens adapter to couple the MP-E 65mm lens to the smaller-sensor camera body.
Want more physics puzzle and photographic techniques? Check out a copy of Sky Crystals: www.skycrystals.ca/