A quiet little house and pine tree rest inside a glass globe, snow drifting softly in the still air.
Click or drag to shake the globe
Real snow globes work by suspending small particles — historically bone chips or ceramic dust, today usually glitter or plastic flakes — inside a liquid that is far more viscous than plain water, typically a water/glycerin (or propylene glycol) mixture. That extra viscosity is what makes the "snow" drift down slowly and swirl in gentle eddies instead of dropping instantly like it would in air. When the globe is shaken, turbulence and fluid drag stir the particles into chaotic motion; as the energy dissipates through viscous friction, the flakes settle back toward the bottom in a slow, hypnotic flurry. The modern snow globe is generally traced back to Vienna, Austria, where a surgical-instrument mechanic named Erwin Perzy is credited with creating one of the first commercial versions around 1900, reportedly while experimenting with ways to improve light bulb brightness with reflective particles in liquid. This simulation approximates that same drag-and-settle behavior with a lightweight particle system and a spring-damped wobble on the globe itself.