Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2022/12/05
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> ... Why six sides? If you analyze at a water molecule, two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom, they are connected at a 120 degree angle. If you do an image search for "water molecule" or "h2o molecule" you will see various diagrams that show this. Actual photographs of water molecules are hard to come by; their structure was determined by x-ray diffraction and not optically. When water crystallizes, the same forces that cause one molecule to be angular will cause the crystals to form with the same angularity. That's how those atoms want to connect. That 120 degree angle will give you six-sided structures.