Snowflake Photos 188
lanzz writes "Beautiful photos don't always come from telescopes and distant stars - my desktop already has a snow crystal close-up photo."
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Snowflake Photos
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In the realm of scientific observation, luck is granted only to those who are prepared. - Louis Pasteur
Enough already (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Enough already (Score:1, Offtopic)
East coast I take it :) (Score:1)
Re:Enough already (Score:2)
Something fun to do.. (Score:2)
Re:Enough already (Score:3, Interesting)
sn0w 0wnz j00!
Seriously, this is one of the more intriguing articles I've ever seen on Slashdot. It's made my bookmarks and is certainly inspiration to whip up some stuff in PoV [povray.org]. I'm an old math and geometry buff (and former resident of the Great White North) and appreciate the beauty of snow. Perhaps moreso that I've got all the technology crap to play with it, yet now live in a warm climate.
Yet, there we geeks were, spellbound decades ago by Julias and Mandelbrots, and accumulating libraries of books, like:
The Fractal Geometry of Nature, Benoit B. Mandelbrot
The Science of Fractal Images (Peitgen, Saupe)
The Beauty of Fractals (Peitgen, Richter)
The Algorithmic Beatuy of Plants (Prusinkiewicz, Lindenmayer)
All the while, I could have gone outside and been inspired by a light dusting of tiny snow or those huge flakes which fell infrequently in a dead calm. Sometimes it is good to get outside.
Bah! (Score:5, Funny)
Think Taco (Score:2, Funny)
Taco obviously spends more time looking at things with an electron microscope than he does with his new wife.
Re:Bah! (Score:4, Funny)
Obviously, Slashdot users get much more use out of snowflakes than penises.
Re:Bah! (Score:1)
Re:Bah! (Score:4, Informative)
Cool! (Score:1)
Literally
Seriously, though, those images are amazing.
Snow Job? (Score:5, Funny)
Make your own snowflake! (Score:5, Funny)
I've been doing that since grade school. Here are my instructions:
--sex [slashdot.org]
They're already selling snowflake pics (Score:5, Funny)
Inspiring picture with Snowflakes [despair.com]
I love that site... hilarious (and no, I don't work for them or get money from them in ANY way)
Re:They're already selling snowflake pics (Score:1)
Re:They're already selling snowflake pics (Score:1)
No need to worry about sharp scissors... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Make your own snowflake! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Make your own snowflake! (Score:2)
or do it with flash (Score:1)
here [lookandfeel.com]
(pretty neat little site, IMO)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Make your own snowflake! (Score:2)
1. Acquire tissue sample from $$$$exyGal
2. Clone DNA in ebryonic stemcell.
3. Surrogate mother raises baby $$$$exyGal
4.
5. Profit!
Re:God damn it (Score:1)
Re:God damn it (Score:2)
Re:God damn it (Score:2)
Wow amazing news ! (Score:1, Informative)
Excellent! (Score:1)
It just proves, there truly is beauty in symmetry.
Re:Excellent! (Score:4, Funny)
I agree with this. Breasts usually come in pairs.
Re:Excellent! (Score:3, Funny)
You're not fooling anyone, you know.
Re:Excellent! (Score:1)
Re:Excellent! (Score:1)
seriously...that's amazing..the (semi) high res shots look great.
OH! don't tell me they copyrighted a snow flake? (Score:2, Funny)
Each Snowflake is Unique (Score:1, Insightful)
It's not that bad (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It's not that bad (Score:4, Funny)
Re:It's not that bad (Score:1, Flamebait)
What are you, some sort of commie or hippie?
It's all about the pictures (Score:5, Interesting)
Looks like he was right!
Re:It's all about the pictures (Score:5, Interesting)
Bet'cha he saw some pretty pictures somewhere.
The advisor I was assigned to do my senior physics research project under had just written the book on the physics of boomerangs. Why? Because he thought boomerangs were fun, cool, and when he went to look up how they worked found out no one really knew.
My research project was on the dynamics of two wheeled vehicles. Why? Because I adored bicycles, and there were some issues with understanding just how they really worked.
Some people might be surprised at how much real science begins with the simple joy of tossing a boomerang about, or coasting down a curvey road, or some young mind thinking:
"Ooooooooooo, pretty. Me want touch."
KFG
Re:It's all about the pictures (Score:1)
melted fast..... (Score:5, Funny)
I look forward to seeing those beatiful images tommorow.
Re:melted fast..... (Score:1)
Executive summary (Score:2, Informative)
not-so old proverb (Score:5, Funny)
Gorgeous (Score:2)
When will we learn?? (Score:1)
Snowflake images (Score:1)
Obligatory Simpsons Quote (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Obligatory Simpsons Quote (Score:1)
Ralph: [catching a flake of grease on his tounge] This snowflake tastes like fish sticks!
( http://www.snpp.com/episodes/5F20 [snpp.com] )
Mirror (Score:5, Funny)
\/
---
/\
HTH!
Re:Mirror (Score:2)
Quite Stunning (Score:1)
Even after reading through the pages of scientific explaination, I really cannot fathom that the physics actually worked to create something quite that beautifully symmetric, complex, etc... .
Maybe it's all been faked by the government, like the Apollo moon landings...
I Get To Experience The Best Of Both Worlds! (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I Get To Experience The Best Of Both Worlds! (Score:2)
Re:"Women"? What Is This "Women" Of Which You Spea (Score:1)
Re:I Get To Experience The Best Of Both Worlds! (Score:1)
"outside of Antartica" doesn't really narrow things down much
Re:I Get To Experience The Best Of Both Worlds! (Score:1)
http://snowflakebentley.com/
Hmm (Score:5, Funny)
Support your local troll!
Re:Hmm (Score:2, Interesting)
Wow (Score:1)
Californian here... (Score:1, Funny)
Wouldn't it hurt if it were to hit you?
Cool snowflakes (Score:2)
When I was young, I used to make my own custom snow flakes. Well, not really, I just dyed existing ones a pleasing yellow color; or sometimes clumsily wrote my name on them. I never though about taking pictures of them and putting them on a web site though. Obviously that would have been cool thing to do.
Kook Theory (Score:2)
Hmmm? [memorologyllc.com]
"I couldn't help it. It just popped in there!" - Ray
Re: (Score:1)
Cellular Automata? (Score:2, Interesting)
They exhibit a lot of the variation you see when you change the 'rules' of automata systems.
Go out and play? (Score:2, Funny)
Snow Flake Photography Pioneer (Score:5, Interesting)
from Bentley (1930s). There's even a web site
for the Bently snowflake museum.
http://snowflakebentley.com/
Take a break from the trolling, posting and
hacking, and enjoy the photographs. They're
quite beautiful.
Re:Snow Flake Photography Pioneer (Score:1)
Re:Snow Flake Photography Pioneer (Score:2)
Can anybody (Score:2)
this snowflake seems to be made in Taiwan... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:this snowflake seems to be made in Taiwan... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:this snowflake seems to be made in Taiwan... (Score:1)
Atmospheric Ice crystal simulation (Score:5, Informative)
I'm not quite sure why this and ice crystals are so fascinating, but I have the book mentioned in the article, which consists of hundreds of black pages with 1" square images of snowflake magnifications. In the first instance it sounds insane, but it never fails to hold peoples attention.
Yes Virginia (Score:1)
Beautiful simple things (Score:3, Insightful)
ASCII version of pictures (Score:5, Funny)
*
and my personal favorite
* *
* *
The above one makes a great desktop for the graphically challenged.
Re:ASCII version of pictures (Score:3, Funny)
Symmetry (Score:1)
Either way, it's kind of awe inspiring to see such perfect looking designs on a microscopic scale. The universe never ceases to amaze me.
Why they're symmetrical (Score:5, Interesting)
This explanation [caltech.edu] is obviously handwaving-- the symmetry is perfect (or close to it) over scales of millions of molecules.
I've been arguing since 1980 or so that an ice crystal in freefall is not at absolute zero (obviously) so it must have internal vibrations. This is basically 'noise', but as it echoes thru the ice, it stops looking random and becomes symmetrical, like Chladni patterns [google.com] on a vibrating plate or drumhead. (Or like the radiating circles from a drip of water into a circular pool, reconverging at an opposite point.) Because these symmetries are present from the first stage of growth, they maintain symmetrical growth.
I don't think the 104.5 degree angle between the hydrogens in water molecules is close enough to 120 to deliver perfect hexagonality-- it's probably due to the geometry of echoes in any disk, because hexagons can be inscribed in circles. (The spinning of the seed probably contributes to the flatness-- growing favors the outside edge of the bulge, otherwise it might be more spherical.)
Re:Why they're symmetrical (Score:2, Flamebait)
I've been arguing since 1980 or so that an ice crystal in freefall is not at absolute zero (obviously) so it must have internal vibrations. This is basically 'noise', but as it echoes thru the ice, it stops looking random and becomes symmetrical, like Chladni patterns [google.com] on a vibrating plate or drumhead. (Or like the radiating circles from a drip of water into a circular pool, reconverging at an opposite point.) Because these symmetries are present from the first stage of growth, they maintain symmetrical growth.
[snip]
This explanation is just crackpot-science.
Crystal growth and dendrite-formation are well-understood subjects within physical chemistry.
Of course their explanation is grossly simplified, that page is oriented towards the layman, not inorganic chemists.
If you don't understand it, read a book on the subject.
Molecular vibrations are present at absolute zero, they're called zero-point vibrations and are a well-known consequence of quantum theory.
Suggesting that all water molecules in a snowflake crystal vibrate in harmony in a state of equillibrium violates the laws of thermodynamics.
Re:Why they're symmetrical (Score:3)
(Why do geeks so often get defensive when you point out gaps in science's perfection?)
Crystal growth and dendrite-formation are well-understood subjects within physical chemistry.
Not symmetries that are maintained over distances of a millimeter or more.
Suggesting that all water molecules in a snowflake crystal vibrate in harmony in a state of equillibrium violates the laws of thermodynamics.
Which law is that? Conservation of Chaos? ;^/
Re:Why they're symmetrical (Score:2)
The level of symmetry in snowflakes is infitely greater than that demo. All the little filigrees echo each other, and the 'mistakes' are attributable to fractures.
Molecular vibrational levels are Boltzmann-distributed at equillibrium
That's only for a random fluid, not a crystal in freefall.
obligatory haiku (Score:5, Funny)
nerds contemplate flakes
inspiring awe, wonder
as a good heatsink
2
each flake is unique
not unlike slashdot stories
oh wait a minute
Here's a fractal generated snowflakes screensaver (Score:4, Interesting)
Here are some nice fractal generated snowflakes [tenfootpolesoftware.com]...
...they're pretty cool to watch over your desktop after you turn off the stock background art.
6 (Score:1)
Funny that there is so much less-that-positve response on this article. Look at that natural symetry, always 6 sided.
You know, you are mostly composed of the same stuff as these snowflake: water. even carbon forms 6 sided bonds, in carbon nanotubes and with it's good friends oxygen and hydrogen.
You are peering at the fundamental laws of organization here. It's beautiful and it seems to hint at something, at least to me.
you know, your brain has dendrites too.
Now the question is; if we are made of all this stuff that forms 6 sided bonds why do we have 5's of seemingly everything else? By the way, I know this is just wanton meandering so don't take me too seriously.
in all actuality these are, after all, just snowflakes.
Re:6 (Score:1)
You can make your own (Score:2)
Really HIGH high-res pictures (Score:1, Offtopic)
why (Score:1)
awesome (Score:1)
This reminds me of the golden rule of the slopes: (Score:2)
more galleries (Score:1, Interesting)
weird snow pictures from afar [nsidc.org] and up close [usda.gov].
Dup? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Dup? (Score:1)
nice backgrounds for OS X (Score:1)
Ice-9! (Score:1)
Oh my god... they slashdotted Caltech! (Score:2)
That said, Ken Librecht is a really cool professor there who has done a lot of interesting stuff.
Lousy webdesign... (Score:1)
In my Mozilla preferences (Appearance / Colors), I have chosen to use my own colors and background insted of the colors and background specified by the page because I like reading my pages with black text on a white background.
When I went to see the pictures in the gallery (for example at http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/ph otos/pp01.htm [caltech.edu]), I was at first rather perplexed because I saw no picture. Just a blank page. But viewing the HTML source explained everything. The picture is as the background in a table, one cell high and one cell wide! WTF? Lousy webdesign by <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 3.0">.
Wow! (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.lpsi.barc.usda.gov/emusnow/stereo/ster
Also, look at the other electron-microscope images here http://www.lpsi.barc.usda.gov/emusnow/default.htm [usda.gov]