00:00When picturing a place with heavy snowfall, Antarctica often springs to mind.
00:10However, it's the United States that records the highest annual snowfall in the world, surpassing even Antarctica.
00:18This might explain why Wilson Bentley, born in 1865 on a chilly Vermont farm, was so captivated by snowflakes.
00:27Bentley's fascination led him to discover that he could collect snowflakes on a blackboard and examine them under a microscope at home without them melting.
00:37Bentley was among the first to assert that no two snowflakes are alike.
00:42Unlike human beings, who can have identical twins, snowflakes each possess unique differences.
00:49In 1885, Bentley became the pioneer in photographing snowflakes through a microscope, dedicating his life to this endeavor and earning the nickname, Snowflake Bentley.
01:01Throughout his lifetime, he captured an impressive 5,381 photographs of snowflakes, proving their uniqueness.
01:10A snowflake is essentially a tiny ice crystal formed within a cloud, growing as it descends to the ground.
01:17Its final shape is influenced by various factors, such as air humidity and temperature at specific altitudes.
01:25This variability leads to the conclusion that each snowflake is distinct.
01:30Justin Pollard in Children's Big Questions, compiled by Gemma Elwynn Harris, explains that despite numerous historical attempts to classify snowflakes, their complexity defies a single classification system.
01:46Common classifications include a set of 35 types, the International Snow and Ice Commission's seven basic types with modifications,
01:55Nakaya's classification of 41 types, and the most intricate system by Magono and Lee, which identifies 80 types of snow crystals.
02:15Thank you for watching!
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