Comment Define "alike" (Score 2) 45
A researcher (pre 2000) actually did find two snowflakes that were the same.
Well, they looked alike under the microscope and had the same crystalline fractal pattern.
But like any other comparison, if you go down deep enough, maybe even to the atomic level, there will be differences.
So the whole no two snowflakes are alike is obviously correct if you go to extreme precision, but at the human level, even with a common optical microscope, you can find matching snowflakes, even if your odds are abysmally small.
And if anyone was wondering why any sane researcher would be checking out snowflakes, there are lots of relevant research dealing with water and it's many forms, as well as crystallization as well. These and other such research aren't just for giggles, it actually helps with various pure science as well as commercial and industrial work as well. It's prpobably not going to get an iGNobel, or a Nobel prize either, but it's still valuable work.
Well, they looked alike under the microscope and had the same crystalline fractal pattern.
But like any other comparison, if you go down deep enough, maybe even to the atomic level, there will be differences.
So the whole no two snowflakes are alike is obviously correct if you go to extreme precision, but at the human level, even with a common optical microscope, you can find matching snowflakes, even if your odds are abysmally small.
And if anyone was wondering why any sane researcher would be checking out snowflakes, there are lots of relevant research dealing with water and it's many forms, as well as crystallization as well. These and other such research aren't just for giggles, it actually helps with various pure science as well as commercial and industrial work as well. It's prpobably not going to get an iGNobel, or a Nobel prize either, but it's still valuable work.