CMA presents "The Secret Life of a Snowflake: Puzzles and Peculiarities in the Molecular Dynamics of Crystal Growth"
Our understanding of the detailed molecular dynamics of growing crystals is quite primitive, and it is generally not possible to explain why even simple crystals develop their characteristic shapes. A case in point is the snow crystal, which grows into a puzzling variety of unusual morphologies under different conditions. Although snow crystals are nothing more than water vapor freezing into ice, some basic aspects of their growth have remained unexplained for over 75 years. Join us as Dr. Kenneth G. Libbrecht examines why snow crystals grow the way they do, how patterns emerge, and what this all means for the fundamental physics of crystal growth and structure formation. (For a preview, see snowcrystals.com.)
Dr. Libbrecht is a professor in the Physics Department at Caltech and is involved with advanced detector development for the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), which is designed to detect and study gravitational-wave signals from violent astrophysical events, such as supernovae or coalescing neutron stars and black holes. His interest in crystal growth led him to study and photograph snowflakes. Four of his photographs were selected by the U.S. Postal Service as designs for postage stamps for the 2006 winter holiday season, with a total printing of approximately three billion stamps. In addition to many professional papers, Dr. Libbrecht is the author of several books on snowflakes, including The Snowflake: Winter's Secret Beauty, which won the 2004 National Outdoor Book Award (Nature and the Environment category). He received his B.S. from Caltech and his Ph.D. from Princeton University.
This event is free. All members of the Campus and JPL communities and retirees are welcome. Because of security requirements, individuals without JPL badges must have a Laboratory employee or resident affiliate submit a visitor request and be their escort. The same requirements apply to retirees with expired badges or who have badges that don't say "JPL Retiree Access." Foreign person visitor requests must be submitted at least four working days before the event; U.S. person visitor requests must be submitted at least two working days before the event.
For additional event information, contact Athena Castro at (626) 395-6163 or [email protected].
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