It would seem that figuring out how many molecules of water are needed to form the smallest, or most basic ice crystal would have been discovered long ago, but that is not the case, because to measure both the size and structure of a water molecule cluster at the same time, two types of devices must be used, which up till now meant one disturbing the other, ruining the results.
Now a group of chemists working at the Max Planck Institute has discovered a way around that problem and report that the minimum number of water molecules necessary to form an ice crystal is 275. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team describes the process they developed and how they obtained their results. Via Chemists find smallest number of water molecules needed to form an ice crystal.
