# Identical snowflakes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [January 6, 2001, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identical-snowflakes/48715 "2001-01-06T07:21:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![stormtrax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@stormtrax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stormtrax)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identical-snowflakes/48715/1 "2001-01-06T07:21:47Z")
Unfortunately, I am well aware of Nancy Knight’s incredibly stupid and useless quest to find identical snowflakes. Awarded well over $100,000 to waste on the project, she had to take an aircraft to the very tops of the clouds to find her unicorn. I make snowballs out of snow. I make snowmen out of snow. I ski on snow. I watch dogs change the colors of snow. I watch snow decrease the IQ of sport utility drivers by at least half. I can do none of these things at the tops of clouds - snow is down here, ice crystals are up there - there are ice crystals up there during the summer months as well… would they still be called “snow flakes” in July? Find two identical ice crystals has never been in doubt. Finding two identical snowflakes, however, has yet to be accomplished. ---
**Author:** ![Jamoross](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jamoross/32/3241_2.png) [@Jamoross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamoross)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identical-snowflakes/48715/2 "2001-01-06T08:03:47Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, **stormtrax**. I assume you found [Cecil’s column on snowflakes](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_392.html) not very satisfying. You seem to know more about investigator N. Knight and her meterological studies than the rest of us. Judging from the tone of your inaugural post, I’d also say your beef is mainly with her and not Cecil. Did she rain on one of your parades? And I am confident that two identical snowflakes _have_ been collected numerous times, they just haven’t been documented adequately; having been crushed into ballistic spheroid projectiles miles apart… 🙂 - jam ---
**Author:** ![stormtrax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@stormtrax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stormtrax)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identical-snowflakes/48715/3 "2001-01-06T08:17:38Z")
To tell the truth my beef is mainly with the people in DC who are so generous with my money. I’ve never met Knight and I’m sure she may be a very nice person. All I know is that if the government is giving out hundreds of thousands of dollars at a clip for projects which serve no useful purpose I’d rather they spend the money on determining if I’d have more fun in a Porche than a Saturn. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identical-snowflakes/48715/4 "2001-01-06T14:57:28Z")
It just so happens that we have two forums specifically to deal with your complaint. There’s Great Debates, if you want to discuss it, and there’s the BBQ Pit, if you just wanna rant. Take your pick. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identical-snowflakes/48715/5 "2001-01-06T16:03:43Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, and thank you for posting your comment. Please include a link to Cecil’s column if it’s on the straight dope web site. To include a link, it can be as simple as including the web page location in your post (make sure there is a space **before** and **after** the text of the URL). Cecil’s column can be found on-line at the link provided by our friend **Jamoross**. The column can also be found on pages 392-395 of Cecil Adams’ book «[_Return of the Straight Dope_](http://www.straightdope.com/otheroutlets/books.html)». **stormtrax** , if you have a link to provide that discusses Nancy Knight’s research and your contention that her funding was solely to find identical snowflakes, we would all be interested in reading it. However, as other posters have hinted, the discussion of how wisely the US government spends its tax revenues is probably far enough removed from the subject of this Straight Dope column that the conversation may be better suited to the «[**Great Debates**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=7)» forum (for a debate on the subject) or «[**The BBQ Pit**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=3)» forum (if the intent is to air a gripe). * * * moderator, «[**Comments on Cecil’s Columns**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1)» ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2001, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identical-snowflakes/48715/6 "2001-01-10T08:23:50Z")
In case anyone’s curious, [here’s a nifty website](http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/) on snowflakes, crystals, etc. Everything you could ever want to know, and then some…except for a few things…