Snowflakes Really Are Almost All Different
A flake is a small thin piece. The claim that no two snowflakes are alike is close to true, and there is a reason why.
A flake is a small thin fragment that has broken off something. The snowflake claim holds up better than most folklore: a large flake contains around a quintillion water molecules, and its shape records the exact path of temperature and humidity it fell through, so the number of possible arrangements vastly exceeds the number of flakes that have ever formed. Tiny simple crystals, however, can genuinely match. In American slang a *flake* is an unreliable person.
- A thin fragment. *Flakes of paint.*
- A snow crystal. *A perfect snowflake.*
- An unreliable person (slang). *He's a total flake.*
- Flaky — coming apart, or unreliable. *Flaky pastry.*
- Flake out — to fall asleep or fail to appear. *He flaked out.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | flake | One flake. |
| Plural | flakes | Snow flakes. |
| Verb | flake | The paint flaked. |
| Adjective | flaky | Flaky pastry. |
| Phrasal verb | flake out | He flaked out. |
- Paint flaked off the window frame.Verb.
- Large snowflakes fell all afternoon.Weather.
- He flaked on the arrangement.American slang.
How a snowflake gets its shape
- Six sides come from the hexagonal structure of ice crystals
- Temperature and humidity at each moment decide the growth pattern
- The whole path through the cloud is recorded in the shape
- Two flakes would need identical journeys to match
- Very small crystals can and do look identical
Middle English, probably from a Scandinavian source, related to Old Norse *flakna*, to flake off or split.
Are no two snowflakes really alike?
For large complex flakes, effectively yes: the number of possible shapes is astronomically large. Very simple small crystals can match.
Why are snowflakes six-sided?
Because water molecules bond into a hexagonal lattice when they freeze, and the crystal grows outward on that framework.