Why are snowflakes so fascinating?

                                                 Why are snowflakes so fascinating?

Snowflakes are fascinating because they are symmetrical. They reflect the internal order of the water molecules as they arrange themselves in the solid-state (the process of crystallization). Water molecules in the solid state, such as in ice and snow, form weak bonds to one another. These ordered arrangements result in the basic symmetrical, hexagonal shape of the snowflake. Their fundamental form derives from the arrangement of the water molecules in the ice crystal. When a liquid freezes, the molecules tend to settle in the lowest-energy state, and that almost always involves some form of symmetry. The higher the symmetry, the more stable the crystal is.

Water molecules floating freely in a vapor begin to arrange themselves into a crystalline solid when the temperature drops below freezing. When the temperature is low enough, the molecules link together to form a solid, open framework that has a strict hexagonal symmetry.
But why are snowflake shapes so elaborate? Nobody has a good answer for that. The general explanation is that snowflakes form in the atmosphere where conditions are very cold and complex. A crystal might begin to grow in one manner and then minutes or even seconds later something changes (temperature or humidity), so it starts to grow in another manner. The hexagonal symmetry is maintained, but the ice crystal may branch off in new directions. The changes in environmental conditions take place over a large area compared with the size of a single snowflake, so all regions of the flake are similarly affected. In the end, there are all kinds of forms that can arise: everything from prisms and needles to the familiar lacy snowflakes. For this reason, snowflakes are so fascinating!