Let it snow
What is the snow made of? How does a snowflake come so beautifully shaped? Here are some quick snow facts for you.
"I'm dreaming of a White Christmas, just like the ones I used to know...where the trees are glistening, and people listening to hear sleigh bells in the snow..." Yet, what is snow, and how does it appear? Snow is a kind of precipitation which takes the form of crystalline water ice. It is made of many snowflakes that fall down from clouds, and this process bears the name of snowfall. When formed under proper conditions, ice crystals are usually flat and thin. This kind of crystals can be mere hexagons or when the level of over saturation is high enough, they can develop some sort of branches and fern-like traits. This hexagonal symmetry comes from the structure of the ordinary ice.
The beautiful shape of a snowflake is given by the humidity and temperature at which it takes form. Thus, if the temperature is about - 2 °C (28 °F), snowflakes can present a sort of triangular symmetry. Also, unlike pictures that present the perfect snowflake, real snowflakes are likely to be irregular in shape.
Another commonly spread belief is that every snowflake is unique in shape, and therefore each one has its own amazing particularities. From the scientific point of view, two macroscopic objects in our universe cannot possibly have the very same molecular structure.
However, there is no physical or other scientific law to prevent two snowflakes from resembling each other quite perfectly. The thing is, if the two snowflakes were created in the very same environmental conditions, at the very same temperature and humidity level, and so on, there is a great chance for the two to be identical in shape. But we humans tend to ignore the scientific part, and take very much pleasure in the metaphor of snowflakes.
Since no snowflake resembles another, we as human beings have the same type of uniqueness; although we are born under the same conditions, even at the same time, each human has its own peculiarities that differentiate him/her from the rest of the world. Yeah, we like to associate the beautiful miracles of nature, like snowfalls and snowflakes, with our own human nature, so as to feel just a bit closer to our lost paradise.
Why does first snow move us so? Even if we feel the blistering cold, and are all wet and frozen, we get euphoric when we see the big snowflakes, be them mixed with the cold rain.
Some of us travel back in time, feeling kids again, playing in the fresh snow, ready to make the first snowman of the year, before all the rest of the kids. Others are happy enjoying their adulthood perspective, hoping for the falling snow to cover all the dirt and ugliness of the world, and but a few take refuge in a world of fairytale, in their own personal dreamland.
Everything seems possible in this world, and we can be happy, it is the country of the Snow Queen, of other fantastic creatures, of Santa Claus. It is a world of ours, made by us, which lives through us, but not for us only.
When we try to make it only ours, this world vanishes away, like the first thin layer of snow. This world includes all we hold dear, it is for them that we build crystal castles and we shake snow-full trees, running in the fresh, cleansing snow. This snow captures our best thoughts, preserving them from ever dying.
Whenever it rains, the world may seem a sad, lonely, ugly place. We tend to stay inside, in the warmth of our homes. But when the first snow falls, there is something magic about it. It's irresistible. Its immaculate white gives us hope and faith in a better, happier, nicer future.
We all probably have this "first snow thing", at least deep down inside. It's the memory of the very first snow, discovered when we were little, or related to a moment of our adulthood, or any other pleasant moment in life, when we discovered its purity and fragility, but also its power to ever return every year. And we're forever waiting for this first snow, to come and make everything clean, pure and true, "just like the way we used to know...".
The beautiful shape of a snowflake is given by the humidity and temperature at which it takes form. Thus, if the temperature is about - 2 °C (28 °F), snowflakes can present a sort of triangular symmetry. Also, unlike pictures that present the perfect snowflake, real snowflakes are likely to be irregular in shape.
Another commonly spread belief is that every snowflake is unique in shape, and therefore each one has its own amazing particularities. From the scientific point of view, two macroscopic objects in our universe cannot possibly have the very same molecular structure.
However, there is no physical or other scientific law to prevent two snowflakes from resembling each other quite perfectly. The thing is, if the two snowflakes were created in the very same environmental conditions, at the very same temperature and humidity level, and so on, there is a great chance for the two to be identical in shape. But we humans tend to ignore the scientific part, and take very much pleasure in the metaphor of snowflakes.
Since no snowflake resembles another, we as human beings have the same type of uniqueness; although we are born under the same conditions, even at the same time, each human has its own peculiarities that differentiate him/her from the rest of the world. Yeah, we like to associate the beautiful miracles of nature, like snowfalls and snowflakes, with our own human nature, so as to feel just a bit closer to our lost paradise.
Why does first snow move us so? Even if we feel the blistering cold, and are all wet and frozen, we get euphoric when we see the big snowflakes, be them mixed with the cold rain.
Some of us travel back in time, feeling kids again, playing in the fresh snow, ready to make the first snowman of the year, before all the rest of the kids. Others are happy enjoying their adulthood perspective, hoping for the falling snow to cover all the dirt and ugliness of the world, and but a few take refuge in a world of fairytale, in their own personal dreamland.
Everything seems possible in this world, and we can be happy, it is the country of the Snow Queen, of other fantastic creatures, of Santa Claus. It is a world of ours, made by us, which lives through us, but not for us only.
When we try to make it only ours, this world vanishes away, like the first thin layer of snow. This world includes all we hold dear, it is for them that we build crystal castles and we shake snow-full trees, running in the fresh, cleansing snow. This snow captures our best thoughts, preserving them from ever dying.
Whenever it rains, the world may seem a sad, lonely, ugly place. We tend to stay inside, in the warmth of our homes. But when the first snow falls, there is something magic about it. It's irresistible. Its immaculate white gives us hope and faith in a better, happier, nicer future.
We all probably have this "first snow thing", at least deep down inside. It's the memory of the very first snow, discovered when we were little, or related to a moment of our adulthood, or any other pleasant moment in life, when we discovered its purity and fragility, but also its power to ever return every year. And we're forever waiting for this first snow, to come and make everything clean, pure and true, "just like the way we used to know...".
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