You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You are the same decaying organic matter as everyone else, and we are all part of the same compost pile.
Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club
This quote from Fight Club seemed quite apt given that it’s been snowing here all weekend and all the unique and beautiful snowflakes are piled into great mountains on the roads and footpaths.
This is the view from my window (just to add a small personal touch!).
Are we unique snowflakes or part of the same compost pile?
Yes and yes.
I doubt there’s anyone who’s not been mesmerised by snow at some point in their lives. I grew up in the South of England where snow is rather uncommon and it still inspires the small child in me to play or enjoy a day off school work.
It’s less unusual in Poland and Romania where I now live. Even so, with the heavy falls over the last days in Warsaw, I got to wondering if it’s true that no two flakes are identical.
Is each snowflake really unique, as is commonly believed?
Snow – a short history
Each flake is formed from the same building blocks – i.e. water molecules. When the conditions (mainly temperature and humidity) are right, the molecules crystallise into ice.
Molecules, as I’m sure you know, are very, very small which means there are very, very many in each flake of snow – making the possible number of shapes and sizes enormous.
Because of the structure of the water molecule, it takes on a shape based on the number three – most commonly a 6-sided figure. Theoretically, two snowflakes could end up identical, but it’s highly unlikely because each flake travels it’s own unique path – even flakes travelling together will deviate slightly as their paths are not precisely the same.
The precise shape is affected by atmospheric conditions as each forming snow flake starts it’s long journey from the heavens to the earth. It passes through different conditions as it moves downwards, all of which determine how the crystal develops.
It will also be influenced by impurities (dust for example) it collects on the way until finally it lands on earth, almost certainly unnoticed by anyone.
Those we do take the time to examine are quite wonderful examples of the miracle of nature.
Ultimately of course, it will decompose into either ice or water – its essence joining the huge body of water making up around two thirds of the planet’s surface. How long they last and how much they’ll be noticed, is determined by where they land.
Is any of this so very different from our journey as human beings?
And finally … the largest recorded snowflake measured 38cm (15 inches). You could almost make a whole snow-person from that!
