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How do we know that no snowflakes are the same?



"I'm sorry, did I break your concentration"?
 
Posts: 1513 | Location: Above water | Registered: September 16, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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than money earned
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quote:
Originally posted by 21bubba:
How do we know that no snowflakes are the same?


That's funny you ask? I had this same exact thought 2 days ago when it was snowing. How can anyone make this claim? I call BS! I need hard proof.


_________________________

Einstein defines insanity as "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results"
 
Posts: 3086 | Location: SE MI | Registered: October 26, 2004Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Because they are all so very special.... Big Grin
 
Posts: 4979 | Registered: April 20, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Given a few billion years of snowfall, I'd say it's quite likely that there have been many identical snowflakes. Crystals can form in many ways, but the numbers are not in favor of such an absolute.
 
Posts: 8954 | Location: The Red part of Minnesota | Registered: October 06, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
His Royal Hiney
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That's a good question. I think the idea of injecting randomness at every stage of snowflake development supports the theory.

The idea of no two humans can have the same thumbprint hasn't been shown to be false yet and there's a lot more variability in the production of snowflakes.



"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.
 
Posts: 19645 | Location: The Free State of Arizona - Ditat Deus | Registered: March 24, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Do we really care?

Given an eternity of time, one might suppose that 2 identical snowflakes could occur. (One thinks of the monkeys and typewriters.) Since a single snowflake is not likely to exceed a particular size, there is a finite (but enormous) limit on the number of possibilities how individual water molecules could add to the structure, so "never" the same is probably not provable. I suppose it is possible that 2 humans could randomly be created with the same DNA complement even when unrelated in any way, but that possibility does not impede use of DNA in genetic investigations.

flashguy




Texan by choice, not accident of birth
 
Posts: 27902 | Location: Dallas, TX | Registered: May 08, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by flashguy:
Do we really care?

Given an eternity of time, one might suppose that 2 identical snowflakes could occur. (One thinks of the monkeys and typewriters.) Since a single snowflake is not likely to exceed a particular size, there is a finite (but enormous) limit on the number of possibilities how individual water molecules could add to the structure, so "never" the same is probably not provable. I suppose it is possible that 2 humans could randomly be created with the same DNA complement even when unrelated in any way, but that possibility does not impede use of DNA in genetic investigations.

flashguy
I've nothing to offer on snow flakes. I will forever recall, not accurately, your analogy of a fighter prop planes speed and the photogs camera settings. It left a lasting impression on my simpleton mind. Looking back, thank you for that flashguy.
 
Posts: 17900 | Location: The Bluegrass State! | Registered: December 23, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by David Lee:
quote:
Originally posted by flashguy:
Do we really care?

Given an eternity of time, one might suppose that 2 identical snowflakes could occur. (One thinks of the monkeys and typewriters.) Since a single snowflake is not likely to exceed a particular size, there is a finite (but enormous) limit on the number of possibilities how individual water molecules could add to the structure, so "never" the same is probably not provable. I suppose it is possible that 2 humans could randomly be created with the same DNA complement even when unrelated in any way, but that possibility does not impede use of DNA in genetic investigations.

flashguy
I've nothing to offer on snow flakes. I will forever recall, not accurately, your analogy of a fighter prop planes speed and the photogs camera settings. It left a lasting impression on my simpleton mind. Looking back, thank you for that flashguy.
I'm guessing you meant "analysis", not "analogy", but you're welcome in any case.

flashguy




Texan by choice, not accident of birth
 
Posts: 27902 | Location: Dallas, TX | Registered: May 08, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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