Chilling Facts About Snow.

Snow may be the only thing on Earth that is simultaneously enchanting and annoying, completely necessary and extremely dangerous.

But no matter if you love or hate it, or both at the same time, snow is an essential part of the Earth’s ecosystem.

Let’s consider some of the more unusual aspects of snow!

Scientists classify snow as a mineral, the same as salt or diamond: a naturally occurring solid inorganic material with a definite chemical composition and an ordered atomic arrangement.

Snowflakes are composed of ice crystals. A crystal is any matter in which ions, atoms, or molecules are arranged in a highly ordered three-dimensional lattice.

In fact, the word “crystal” comes from the Greek krustallos, which means not only “rock crystals” but also “ice.”

The largest single ice crystal ever documented measured just 0.39 inches (1 centimeter) from tip to tip. Most are much smaller than that.

Although a single airborne ice crystal is very tiny, it clusters with others as it falls to form snowflakes. An ordinary snowflake may consist of dozens or even hundreds of crystals clumped together.