Snowflake Dendritic Growth: The Crystalization of Ice Patterns

What Dendritic Growth Is

Dendritic growth is a process where crystals form in a branched, tree-like structure. This phenomenon is particularly evident in the formation of snowflakes under specific conditions. The hexagonal symmetry of ice molecules leads to intricate patterns as they grow from a nucleus.

The model simulates this growth on a 2D hexagonal lattice, allowing us to observe how changes in temperature and supersaturation affect the crystal's morphology.

How Temperature Affects Growth

Temperature plays a crucial role in dendritic growth. As temperature decreases, the rate of nucleation (the formation of new ice crystals) increases, leading to more complex and intricate patterns. The model reflects this by showing different crystal habits such as plates, needles/columns, or branching dendrites depending on the temperature setting.

The Nakaya diagram, a graphical representation of how these crystal habits change with temperature and supersaturation, is used to guide the simulation parameters.

Supersaturation and Its Impact

Supersaturation refers to the concentration of water vapor in the air above its saturation point. Higher supersaturation leads to faster nucleation and growth, resulting in more complex dendritic structures. In the simulation, adjusting the supersaturation slider can reveal how these changes influence the crystal's formation.

The model demonstrates that at lower temperatures with high supersaturation, branching dendrites form, while at higher temperatures or lower supersaturation, simpler plate-like formations are observed.

Attachment Sharpness and Growth Speed

The attachment sharpness parameter (gamma) influences how readily new ice molecules can attach to the growing crystal. A sharper attachment means more selective growth, leading to more intricate patterns. The growth speed slider controls how quickly the simulation progresses, allowing for a closer examination of the growth process.

By adjusting these parameters, one can observe how they affect the overall shape and complexity of the snowflake, providing insights into the physical processes involved in crystal formation.

Frequently asked questions

Try it live

Everything above runs in your browser — open Snowflake Dendritic Growth and change the parameters while it is running. Nothing is installed, nothing is uploaded, the whole model lives in one tab.