Can you preserve snowflakes

You have to be careful that heat from your hands doesn't melt the crystal, and even just breathing on your snowflake can be detrimental. If you find that the crystals are melting no matter what you do, then you may just have to wait for a colder day. Handling snowflakes is generally easier in colder conditions; it can be downright frustrating when the temperature is just below freezing.

Finally, let the glue harden while it remains at sub-freezing temperatures, which may take up to a week. If the weather is going to stay cold, you can leave your slides outside in a sheltered spot.

If not, pop them in your kitchen freezer. Ever wanted to catch a snowflake and keep it forever? You can. The glue hardens when the monomers link together, or polymerize, head-to-tail into long chains called polymers. Bentley had to work quickly to get each shot before the radiant heat from his body melted the flake. In front of a crackling fire, if you like.

Use scissors to trim down the ends of the pipe cleaners so they are all approximately the same length and can fit in the jar. Tie a piece of string to one end of the star. Connect the string to the next point by twisting it around the pipe cleaner. Continue around until you connect all the points together with the string, making a snowflake skeleton. Tie another piece of string to one of the pipe cleaner points, and tie the other end around the pencil. Place the snowflake in the jar with the pencil resting across the mouth of the jar to make sure that the snowflake hangs without touching any part of the jar.

Take the snowflake out of the jar. Make the solution. Measure out how many cups of water are needed to fill the jar.

Use a teakettle or microwave to boil the water. For every cup of water placed in the jar, mix in three tablespoons of borax. This will make a saturated borax solution. Stir the borax solution with a spoon until as much of it dissolves as possible.

Create the crystal.