system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why do snowflakes form symmetrically?
gpt
They typically don't. Snowflakes are a crystalline formation, and they crystallise along hexagonal patterns. They are roughly symmetrical because at each point when more ice crystals are forming at the edges, they are experiencing approximately the same conditions as at corresponding points of rotational symmetry. Because of the hexagonal structure there are limited ways the ice can crystallise at the edges, this limitation forces the shapes into more regular patterns. The smaller snowflakes are the more uniform and closer to symmetrical they are.