Okay, I get that crystallization results in a geometric pattern, and the crystals are arranged according to their molecular structure, but the floor tiling analogy just kinda threw me for a loop.
‘Predetermined pattern’? Where is this pattern determined? Are all the water molecules alike? If so, then why are there different general formations for snowflakes?
Yes, all water molecules are alike. That’s why it’s all water.
And I can take a set of square tiles and make all kinds of designs with them, but they’re all going to have bi-fold or four-fold symmetry, because that’s the way squares fit together. Similarly, water moecules tend to fit together so as to form six-sided shapes, and the six-sided shaes fit together in all sorts of patterns, but they’re all going to show six-fold symmetry.
The predeterined spaces are predetermined by the first few tiles/water crystals, just like the article said.
That makes sense, to account for them all being six sided, but I guess what I don’t get is how there’s such variety.
I know that there are identical snowflakes, but it seems to me that given my (admittedly lacking) understanding they should all be identical, or at least a lot closer to identical than they are.
As Amfet’s link states, no two snowflakes are identical. Probably not an absolute truth, but some guy a few years ago made a study of snowflakes, looked at countless of them, and could not find any two that were identical. They are all 6-sided crystals, but they don’t crystalize in the same identical shape.