A group of home-schooled students, ages 8-16, visited the Schwerdtfeger
Library along with their parents to explore the science behind snowflakes.
While visiting, the students had an opportunity to examine some of the snow
crystal photomicrographs from the library’s Wilson Bentley Collection, observe
an experiment on ice crystal formation, and listen to a presentation on
snowflakes and the physics of snow by Matthew Lazzara and Jean Phillips.
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| Photo credit: Matt Stary |
The ice crystal experiment prepared by the library followed
Ken Libbrecht’s advice on how to duplicate spontaneous ice crystal growth in
the lab. We tried two different snow crystal environments at staggered times in
order to simulate different levels and complexity of crystal growth. We had great
success! Several students took pictures.
If you would like to try the experiment at home, these two
resources will help get you started: Growing your own snow crystals and Snowflakes in a bottle.
Inspired by their
experience at the library, some of the students took photographs at home of snowflakes
with ambient light and a simple loupe, with amazing results!
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| Photo credit: Gus, Axel, and Rene Heiden. |
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| Photo credit: Gus, Axel, and Rene Heiden. |
For more information on snowflakes and the library's resources and expertise in this area, as well as further reading on Ken Libbrecht, check out last week's post!
