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After making electric ice needles, we can watch snowflakes grow on the ends of the needle, a trick we call Snowflake-on-a-Stick. This page shows some time-lapse videos of the process in action.


Macrosteps on Ice
This video shows a plate-like crystal growing atop an "electric" ice needle at -15 C (See Electric Needles for more about how these are made.) The center part of the plate is nearly flat, so it is mostly transparent, like a clear sheet of glass. The edges of the plate are more complex. Even with this relatively simple ice crystal, there is quite a bit going on!

If you look carefully in the second half of the video, you can see several concentric "macrosteps" on the clear ice, mostly growing inward. 


Snowflake on a Stick
This video shows several stellar snow crystals growing on the ends of electric ice needles.


Snowflake on a Stick - Inverted
For those of you who like your snowflakes white, this is the same as the previous video, expect inverted to show white ice against a dark background..