Can you prove that there are no 2 snowflakes alike?

Question

Well of course not because you can't examine all of them. All we can say is that we have never found 2 that were exactly alike. So it's a theory. All the data suggests that no 2 are alike. If we ever find 2 that are exactly alike - just one pair in all the snowflakes ever seen - the theory is shot, but so far it hasn't been.

So the real question is this: does this help to explain what a theory actually is and how it gets disproven?

Thanks, neil. So even though all the evidence so far gathered supports the hypothesis that all snowflakes (or fingerprints, as Glitter Girl suggested) are different, it still doesn't rise to the level of theory? Is this hypothesis then considered fact, though? I mean, the fingerprint thing has convicted people.

Nice answer, MOCHA!! :-)

Answer 1

Formation of snowflakes is a molecular phenomenon. Snowflakes are water crystals formed in a particular environment. Ice, liquid water and steam are three distinct physical states of water. Crystalline state (snowflakes) is a special state of solid water in which water molecules form a unit cell, and the crystal size depends on the repeated unit cells. The building of snowflakes depends on several factors, such as temperature, impurities dissolved in water (while in vapor or liquid state), air currents, pollutants in air etc. The water molecules at a particular temperature and identical conditions try to ideally form identical snowflakes, but since a single snowflake involves millions of molecules, some variations are likely to occur in every snowflake. That is why it is said that no 2 snowflakes are identical. But you cannot say, this is a theory.
Actually, based on the theory of probability, existence of many exactly identical snowflakes is possible.

Answer 2

Yes, good teaching lesson on what a theory is.

On the snowflake: Wilson A. Bentley (1865-1931) carefully and scientifically photographed more than 5000 snowflake crystals and provided detailed notes on the exact weather conditions. No two were found to be alike. The beautiful symmetry and diversity many see as a reflection of God's beauty, symmetry, unity and also his infinite diversity.

Another theory is that no two grains of sand are exactly alike. I believe that theory.

My hypothesis (not yet a likely theory) is that no two atoms of the same element are exactly alike. Further, I believe that no two of the smallest ultimate sub-atomic particles are alike ! When quarks and electrons are smashed in the next years or decades, these ultimate particles will be discovered. And particle theory will replace wave theory.

Relating now to religion and spirituality relations of God and Man; it is GIVEN BY DIVINE REVELATION (an Absolute) the spiritual Truth that no two human PERSONALITIES are alike ! You and I and all humans are Absolutely UNIQUE, without duplication, in both time and in eternity ! In that sense we each are an "only begotten Son of God"; and we each are made in the Father-Son "Image of God" !

This good question is more science and possibly philosophy than religion; but I am glad that you asked it here. Try those other two topics also if you wish, with different wordings.

Brother Dave, a Jesusonian Christian Truthist
http://www.PureChristians.org/ Gospel enlarging website,
proclaiming worldwide the True Religion
OF JESUS and ABOUT JESUS and IN JESUS
Come and share !

Answer 3

It is possible, that in the history of the universe, two snowflakes have been alikethough highly unlikely...you can prove it with statistics, but nothing else.

Nano-snowflakes can be exactly alike. Some things in Nature are exactly alike. For example, our understanding of elementary particles indicates that all electrons are exactly, precisely the same. This is one of the cornerstones of quantum physics, and if you think for a bit you will see that this is a profound statement. Electrons are true elementary particles, in that they have no component parts; thus they are all exactly alike.Since a typical small snow crystal might contain 1018 water molecules, we see that about 1015 of these molecules will be different from the rest. These unusual molecules will be randomly scattered throughout the snow crystal, giving it a unique design. The probability that two snow crystals would have exactly the same layout of these molecules is very, very, very small. Even with 1024 crystals per year, the odds of it happening within the lifetime of the Universe is indistinguishable from zero.

Larger, complex snowflakes are all different. The number of possible ways of making a complex snowflake is staggeringly large.

To see just how much so, consider a simpler question -- how many ways can you arrange 15 books on your bookshelf? Well, there's 15 choices for the first book, 14 for the second, 13 for the third, etc. Multiply it out and there are over a trillion ways to arrange just 15 books. With a hundred books, the number of possible arrangements goes up to just under 10158 (that's a 1 followed by 158 zeros). That number is about 1070 times larger than the total number of atoms in the entire universe!
Now when you look at a complex snow crystal, you can often pick out a hundred separate features if you look closely. Since all those features could have grown differently, or ended up in slightly different places, the math is similar to that with the books. Thus the number of ways to make a complex snow crystal is absolutely huge.

And thus it's unlikely that any two complex snow crystals, out of all those made over the entire history of the planet, have ever looked completely alike.

Answer 4

No Two Snowflakes Alike

Answer 5

Actually, I seriously doubt it is true. After all, not that many have ever been photographed, to where they could be analyzed in detail. And the fact is, there are only so many possibilities. It is, after all, mostly frozen water with a little bit of dust or other inclusions; no doubt pollution is an ingredient. I believe the "no two alike" myth started as a way to say that they are extremely varied, and they are. But they still conform to a radial, usually six-sided pattern, existing basically in a flat plane. (If they are three dimensional, it is considered two flakes joined.) Any mathematician can tell you there's only so many ways they can combine.

As to your "real question," you have made the point that a theory, in order to be a theory and not a myth, has to have a logical way of being disproven. This one does. But I doubt if it can be called a serious theory.

Answer 6

You're using theory the way scientists use hypothesis. A scietific theory is far different. In science, a theory is a system of thought used to connect known facts into a coherent picture. For instance, the theory of evolution is about the many known facts of evolution, and is meant to explain how evolution happebned, and not whether or not it happened, which is already established.

Edit: The snow flake hypothesis is based on our theories about water, temperature, wind, etc., that point to each instance of snowflake formation being unique and thus each snowflake being unique. The same with gestation and finger prints.

Answer 7

A "theory" is a construct that gives you the ability to make a prediction.

If you consider this snowflake proverb as a "theory," then it would give you the ability to predict that you won't find any snowflakes that are the same.

Finding two snowflakes that ARE the same would not disprove the theory.

But, the whole "no 2 snowflakes alike" thing is not a scientific theory, it's a poetic idea.

Answer 8

No two puzzle pieces are exactly the same,
yet all the pieces fit into an assembled puzzle;
But not all the pieces fit together with each other.

Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together.
Find out just where you fit into the general assembly,
which is neither on Mt Sinai, nor Mt Zion, but Mt Sion.

So if unique snow flakes know where to fit into snow,
is wherever they fall after being tossed to & fro by winds,
why don't unique humans know where to fit in human race?

Answer 9

I suppose one would have to consider the obverse: can you prove that there are two that are alike?

And it is interesting to note that there are far more snowflakes than people out there.

Happy New Year!

Answer 10

No two fingerprints are the same......

Is there anyway that you can take billions of peoples fingerprints to find out if it is true?