No Two Snowflakes  

Benjamin WC Rosser

After years 
of astute study,
a profound 
hypothesis —

Cold inside 
a walk-in freezer
sitting on 
a chilly chair 
alongside
a frigid table,
handling the finest
sable-hair brushes
while peering deep
into a microscope,
she finally
documented
two identical 
snowflakes

Triumphant,
she knew this
revelation
would change
everything,
that now they
all could leap
from speculation
and dogma 
to experimentation 
and possibilities   

She wanted 
no hurrahs, 
but was shattered 
when funding 
was revoked
her position 
eliminated
and the freezer 
reserved 
for any dead
unicorns

The Science

The belief that ‘no two snowflakes are identical’ is widespread and commonly held. Each snowflake consists of one to approximately two hundred ice crystals. Substantive efforts have been made to classify different snowflakes. Eight broad categories with at least eighty visible variant types have been recognised, and snowflake classification is related to the physics of formation.  

A snowflake begins to form as a water droplet condenses around a microscopic dust grain or organic particle inside a supersaturated air mass. As this air mass cools, an ice crystal forms around the particle. Subsequently, additional ice crystals are added. Extremely variable structure at earlier stages of formation influences the later stages of crystal structure.  Varying proportions of the different isotopes of oxygen or hydrogen within the water also alter crystal structure. The shape of a snowflake is further affected by the antecedent water vapour present in the atmosphere during formation, as well as temperature and pressure changes in the air as the snowflake falls to the ground. Heat and mass transfer in a snowpack on or near the ground surface will also affect the snowflake structure. The interplay of these constantly changing environmental variables has led some scientists to theorise that no two naturally occurring snowflakes will be visibly identical. However, researchers have synthesised visibly similar snowflakes in a controlled laboratory environment, and simplified snowflakes subjected to constant imposed temperature gradients will look similar due to a more spherical shape.  

The poem ‘No Two Snowflakes’ is a fanciful look at the emergence of new ideas and information in the context of scientific discovery. Processes of discovery that occur at educational institutions and research laboratories are dependent upon funding, which can be either granted or denied to a researcher. In Science, as in other human endeavours, new knowledge that challenges dogma or the status quo can be ignored, dismissed or silenced.

The Poet

Benjamin WC Rosser is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Saskatchewan. He was a university researcher, with publications mainly within the discipline of cell biology. His area of teaching expertise was human anatomy. He currently resides retired in Ottawa, Canada, with his wife and children.

Next poem: Quantum Hair by James Penha