How do we really know that no two snowflakes are ever alike?
In: Planetary Science
Two snowflakes can be alike. But as this expert on snowflakes says from this [veritasium](https://youtu.be/ao2Jfm35XeE?si=Yy9UmqSI-cD3BrVJ) video(11:55). It’s just no different than any other two objects in the world. No two trees will be EXACTLY alike either. It’s all about how precise you want the definition to be. But for all intents and purposes they can make two snowflakes that are indistinguishable from each other already. So I would consider that “alike”
What if I told you; virtually NOTHING is alike.
All it takes is one atom in a different location for 2 things to be “different”
There are more ways to shuffle a deck of cards than there are atoms in the universe. And a deck of cards is only 52 things arranged in 1 dimension. A snowflake is *much* more complex, so there are *way* more possible snowflakes. I think it is safe to assume there is a bit of randomness to it, which makes it extremely unlikely that 2 are identical
Do you know forsure that water is wet without being near the ocean? We all know it’s true, but impossible to prove given the question. That’s your question, no one can account for all the snowflakes, but we all know it’s true
If the universe is infinite, which hasn’t been disproven, there are infinitely identical snowflakes and infinite everything
There’s no scientific principle that says there can’t be two identical snowflakes.
The process of forming a snowflake is just so chaotic and so mnay variations can occur that it is so unlikely that two snowflakes would be exposed to the same conditions during formation, so it’s essentially impossible to find two identical snowflakes.
We aren’t sure, but we can say the probability is so astronomically small that even given the age of the universe, the likelihood of two constructions repeating is so small as to be negligible
Picture snowflakes as tiny, nature-made ice sculptures. Now, imagine there are endless ways to arrange tiny water molecules to form these sculptures. Because of so many possibilities and the different conditions in the sky, the form a snowflake can take varies countlessly.
[removed]
Nothing is ever alike if you zoom in enough.
The only way to grow things like snowflakes similarly is to crystallize them in extremely controlled environments. That’s as true for salt crystals as it is snowflakes.
So we know it because it’s true for basically everything.
Latest Answers