Crystals

What is a crystal? A crystal is a solid substance with definite geometric shapes and molecules that are arranged in a repeating pattern (Compton¹s ). Crystals have fixed angles between its faces, which have distinct edges. If the faces of a crystal can reflect light, then it will sparkle (Stangle). Crystals have constant angles because of the regular arrangement of its particles. There are seven types of crystals: cubic, tetragonal, orthorhombic, hexagonal, trigonal, monoclinic, and triclinic (Dr. Boyle). Crystals are classified by the shapes of their lattice or the ³regular, periodic configuration of particles² (American Heritage).

There are two different types of lattices. There are primitive lattices where there is only one lattice point per unit cell. There are also non-primitive lattices. They are the ones with more than one lattice point per unit cell. Crystals can also be classified by their physical/chemical properties. There are four types of crystals classified this way. They are covalent, metallic, ionic, and molecular (Dr. Boyle). A covalent crystal is a crystal which is one big molecule. They usually have extremely high melting points. An example of a covalent crystal is a diamond an

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This is when the crystal begins to grow. The solute molecules encounter the surfaces and stays on it for a certain amount of time before randomizing forces of the solution knock it off. Crystals start growing one of two ways: unassisted nucleation, crystals that start with the molecules themselves or assisted nucleation, with the help of some solid matter already in the solution (Dr.

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American Heritage Electronic Dictionary. These crystals tend to have low melting points and are soft (Dr. When growing crystals like this, the crystal is produced by a process of dissolving, absorbing, evaporating, and crystallizing . When salt is dissolved in water it is absorbed by the porous material. These molecules will stay together for a little while and will eventually be separated by other internal forces.

When making assisted nucleation crystals at home, rock, charcoal, paper towels, aluminum foil, porous rock, or sponge can be used as the porous material or solid surface (Dr.

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