Dandy Design title

Snow

flake 1flake 2We can get very frustrated with snow when we are trying to drive in it, but the design of water and of the snowflake are incredible examples of God’s intelligent planning of even simple things in the creation. In spite of what you have heard, many snowflakes are identical. In fact, virtually all snowflakes are the same when they first form. A snowflake is generally bunches of perfectly symmetrical crystals that stick together as they form. They stick because of the design of the water molecule which has a 105-degree angle between the hydrogen atoms. This allows the water molecules to be polar in nature — having a positive and negative end.

Water molecules form around a speck of dust to make the crystal. The dust can be volcanic ash, man-made pollution, or a particle from outer space. This process removes particulate matter from the atmosphere, cleaning the air and carrying the minerals in the air to the surface of the earth. As the crystal grows around that speck of dust its shape is altered by humidity, temperature, and wind. That is why the flakes seem different when we see them on the earth.

Freshly fallen snow is usually between 90 and 95 percent air, so it is a good thermal insulator. This allows a freshly fallen snow to protect plants and animals from extreme cold. In addition to that, largeflake 3 quantities of water are stored in snow, and that allows a gradual recharging of the aquifers in places where water is a rare commodity. Snowflakes stick together very tightly, so the idea that shouting can cause an avalanche is a myth.
flake 4
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest snowflake ever found was 15 inches in diameter found in Montana in 1887. A snow crystal can be 50 times as wide as thick, so snowflakes are typically thin like a sheet of paper. Snow is vital to life on planet Earth. Snowflakes are a dandy design of God that can be seen as “treasures of the snow” (Job 38:22). Source: Discover magazine, July 2010, page 80.

Pictures on this page: Art Explosion by Nova Development Corporation, © 1997– 2001.
 

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