Monday, December 29, 2008

Now, 3D snowflakes on your desktop computer

A team of mathematicians from UC (University of California) Davis and the University of Wisconsin-Madison
(UWM) has developed a 3D computer model of snowflakes.

Snowflakes grow from water vapor around some kind of nucleus, such as a bit of dust. The surface of the growing crystal is a complex, semi-liquid layer where water molecules from the surrounding vapor can attach or detach.

The model, built by Gravner and David Griffeath of UWM, takes these factors, as well as temperature, atmospheric pressure and water vapor density, into account for developing the virtual snowflakes.

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