Page 146 - Miracles Within the Molecule

A snow flake is
con densed water vapor
that begins to form around
a small dust par ti cle, just a
few microns in size. This
micro scop ic shape is hex ag o nal,
stem ming from the struc ture of the
water mol e cule. This crys tal that forms grows
increas ing ly larg er, as small branch es begin to grow from its arms. The
cold er the weath er becomes, the fast er these branch es grow. As the flake
is exposed to chan ges in the weath er, cap il la ry tubes begin form ing on
the emerg ing struc ture. As the snow spreads around and is sub ject ed to
dif fer ent weath er con di tions this struc tur al growth con tin ues and starts
to acquire a char ac ter is tic fit ted to every con di tion. Since every branch
in a sin gle snow flake expe ri en ces iden ti cal growth, the branch es all
resem ble one anoth er, even though exceed ing ly com plex struc tures
emerge. In line with the orig i nal hex ag o nal struc ture, a sym me try based
on the num ber six emer ges, and the crys tal acquires a three-dimen sion -
al struc ture. 68
These phys i cal phe nom e na we have out lined, and the phys i cal
laws that give rise to them, are actu al ly exceed ing ly com plex. Therefore,
just as snow flakes acquire very dif fer ent shapes, they also acquire an
immac u late sym me try, so fine ly cal cu lat ed that it seems to have been

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