The Science of Snowflakes

Snow Flakes Snow Crystals Science Caltech physics professor Kenneth G. Libbrecht
Kenneth G. Libbrecht

Double Plates
When two plates are very close together, one of them inevitably grows out faster and shields the other from its source of water vapor, resulting in one large plate connected to a much smaller one. In order to illustrate this phenomenon, Libbrecht has photographed this double plate sample so that only one of the plates is in focus.

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