Science Smarts: Catching snowflakes
By Medicine Hat News on February 17, 2018.
I can hardly believe the weather we are having in February. Please do not hate me, but I am quite enjoying all of the snow we have received the past few days. It is truly beautiful out there. Today is especially beautiful as I came into the office, the gentle snowflakes were landing on my dark coat, and I could even see the outlines of the flakes. We are often so busy that we forget to take a moment and enjoy these special little things nature and science provides us with each and every day. If the wintery weather continues, take a minute to do this activity so you too can enjoy the beautiful snowflakes before they are gone for the year. Let’s get started!
*Remember to ask an adult before doing this experiment.
Materials
– soft gentle snow falling from the sky
– heavy black construction paper
– magnifying glass
– soft fluffy paintbrush
– empty picture frame glass
– masking tape
– aerosol hair spray
– storage box/container to hold all of your materials
– safe storage place outside where it is COLD
Procedure
1. With the masking tape, run a border around the edge of the piece of glass and fold over. This is to protect you from cutting yourself on the sharp edges.
2. Gather all of your science materials and place in the storage box.
3. Place the storage box outside in a cold location for at least four hours. These materials need to be freezing cold for this experiment to work.
4. Once the science materials have chilled, get ready to go outside and experiment. Be sure to dress appropriately for the weather as you are going to be outside for a while — trust me!
5. Find your science materials and remove one of the black sheets of construction paper.
6. Holding only the edges of the construction paper high into the air, try to catch some snowflakes. Do not touch them with your fingers; use the soft fluffy paintbrush to move them around if you need to.
7. Take a minute and use the magnifying glass, observe the snowflakes.
8. Do they all look the same? Different?
9. I know you may be disappointed that you will not be able to share these snowflakes with your friends or family later as they always melt, but wait, you can.
10. If you would like to save your snowflakes for later you will need to do the following:
a. Spray the piece of glass/slide lightly with the hairspray — you want it to be really sticky.
b. Catch some snowflakes.
c. Allow the glass/snowflakes to dry out in the cold for several hours. A good place to do this would be to carefully set them in your storage box in a cold location.
d. Once the hairspray is dry, you can take your glass/slide inside as the snowflake shape will be imprinted there.
e. Share your snowflakes with everyone!
What is going on?
I believe that each and every snowflake is unique, just like a fingerprint. Did you know that snowflakes start out as water? They are these tiny cold water droplets that get carried into the atmosphere where they meet microscopic particles such as like dust in the air. In order to form, the snowflake needs to grab hold of these dust particles. They then begin to freeze into ice crystals which grow in symmetrical shapes in the atmosphere. Snowflakes come in all shapes in sizes. There are single crystals that look rod shaped. Other, more elaborate snowflakes can be made out of hundreds of crystals. The exact shape of the snowflake depends on so many things. It can be due to the temperature, humidity, amount of water, and the size of the dust particle. Snowflakes that look like thin hexagonal needles usually occur in colder air while the most intricate shapes and plates occur when it is slightly warmer and slightly more humid. What kind did you discover?
Patty Rooks, Senior Scientific Consultant PRAXIS, “Connecting Science To The Community”. Contact Praxis at praxis@praxismh.ca, http://www.praxismh.ca, Tweet or follow us @PraxisMedHat, or friend us on Facebook. NOTE our NEW address: #12 826 11 Street S. E., Medicine Hat, Alberta, T1A 1T7 Phone: 403-527-5365, email: praxis@praxismh.ca.
