Guess How Many Snowflake Shapes Are Out There (Hint: Way More Than You Think)

© Flickr / Alexey KljatovSnowflake macro: snowfall
Snowflake macro: snowfall - Sputnik International
Subscribe
Luckily for you, one brave scientist from the University of Arizona decided to count the possibilities. Jon Nelson came up with a number that, frankly, we don't even know what to call, there are so many zeros.

So here it is. The number of possible snowflake shapes is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000. 

That's 768 zeros after the 1. Go on, count them, we dare you. 

​That means the chances of you — or anyone, to be honest — of finding two identical snowflakes are, mathematically speaking, not good. 

But thanks to Popular Mechanics magazine for publishing this incredible research (and for introducing us to an insane number with 768 zeros in it). 

 

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала