At the risk of restarting the snowglobe epidemic...
Snowglobes are really fantastic, except for the fact that they are basically crap. 50ml of water and some white plastic granules just doesn't capture the stately majesty of one of nature's finest meteorological displays. Swirl swirl, settle. That's it.
Howevertheless, there is a possible improvement. To better recreate the scale and speed of a snowstorm, the liquid needs to be considerably more viscous. Glycerol (or a glycerol-water mix) might do nicely; in fact, the viscosity could be chosen depending on the scale of the scene depicted in the snowglobe.
It would also help if the flakes were smaller - a quick survey of scale sizes in various snowglobes in the Buchanan household suggests that the snowflakes have a scale size of between six inches and three feet across - clearly unrealistic.
So. Finer snow, and a more viscous fluid, to create realisticer snowglobe scenes. If anyone can think of something I could add to make this more interesting, please feel free to let me know.
<edit> And clouds. <\edit>-- MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 30 2015 I have a sand box with shells you shake and they arrange themselves in a different way each time. What if a snow globe had little houses and people or horses, with just enough extra weight on the bottoms or legs that they'd land upright and create a different scene every time you shook it.?-- dentworth, Oct 30 2015 Isn't that what they do in Kansas? I always assumed that was why horses had iron shoes.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 30 2015 // If anyone can think of something I could add to make this more interesting, please feel free to let me know.
Clouds. It doesn't snow without clouds. Always felt this was an oversight.-- tatterdemalion, Oct 30 2015 Why not make a clear acrylic snow globe and suspended the glitter in the clear polymer so it looks like it is snowing all the time? At the very least use that clear corn syrup and glitter.-- travbm, Oct 31 2015 With the right blend of reagents, could the liquid not be designed to slowly precipitate white powder? Perhaps the reaction could be reversed by heating and shaking.-- pocmloc, Oct 31 2015 Now that, [poc], is an excellent idea.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 31 2015 random, halfbakery