2009/12/13 by Kenneth G. Libbrecht, Libbrecht, Kenneth G. · 1 citation
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Solidification and crystal growth phenomena #Theoretical and Computational Physics #cond-mat.mtrl-sci #nanoparticles nucleation surface interactions
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0912.2522
arxiv created 2009/12/13 · openalex publication_date 2009/12/13 · arxiv updated 2010/01/07 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Ice crystals growing in highly supersaturated air at temperatures near -5 C exhibit a distinctive, nonplanar dendritic morphology that has not been previously documented or explained. We examine this structure and identify its most prominent features in relation to the ice crystal lattice. Developing a full 3D numerical model that reproduces this robust morphology will be an interesting challenge in understanding diffusion-limited crystal growth in the presence of highly anisotropic surface attachment kinetics.