This program is a simulation of snow crystal growth. In nature, the shapes of snowflakes are highly dependent on temperature and humidity. The hexagonal symmetry of the snowflake is caused by the hexagonal crystal lattice of ice. Snowflakes grow by diffusion of water vapor to the crystallization nucleus. The simulation represents this process by division of the space into small hexagonal cells. Every cell has some numerical value representing water concentration. A cell with a value higher than one represents an ice cell. In this simulation, parameters alpha, beta, and gamma represent the environment.
- The β parameter is the initial background value, analogous to the humidity. The iregularity of the snowflake can be reached by the addition of a small random constant βrandom.
- The γ parameter is constant added to the ice cells. It represents diffusion from outside of the plane.
- The parameter α is related to the speed of diffusion.
The program is based on scientific paper "A local cellular model for snow crystal growth" by Clifford A. Reiter (see original paper for more details).