Making crystals. Watching crystals form of molecules is awesome. I remember once when I was doing some research I did an experiment where I expected the molecule I was making to be crystalline – so it should have been a lovely white shiny solid. All I had was a big beaker full of a kind of yellow liquid. I was sitting looking at it for a while and it just sat there looking back at me. So then I opened it up and just lightly touched the surface with a piece of glass, and suddenly these crystals started forming – enormous chandeliers of white things that looked like lightning formed in front of my eyes. It’s beautiful to watch.
I think by touching it I had introduced a little bit of dust which acted as a “seed” to get the process going. Sometimes it pays to be impatient.
Often, when crystals form, a lot of energy is released. The molecules pack nicely up against each other, and the molecule is happy to do that and releases energy. So on top of all the crystals forming, the beaker got seriously hot. I just sat there watching it thinking “this is so cool”. I actually really needed the molecule – I was doing my PhD and my boss wanted the molecule for something else. But if I’d had more time to play I could have heated the whole thing up with a bunsen and dissolved the crystals and repeated the whole thing. I could have sold tickets to the show.
Making crystals. Watching crystals form of molecules is awesome. I remember once when I was doing some research I did an experiment where I expected the molecule I was making to be crystalline – so it should have been a lovely white shiny solid. All I had was a big beaker full of a kind of yellow liquid. I was sitting looking at it for a while and it just sat there looking back at me. So then I opened it up and just lightly touched the surface with a piece of glass, and suddenly these crystals started forming – enormous chandeliers of white things that looked like lightning formed in front of my eyes. It’s beautiful to watch.
I think by touching it I had introduced a little bit of dust which acted as a “seed” to get the process going. Sometimes it pays to be impatient.
Often, when crystals form, a lot of energy is released. The molecules pack nicely up against each other, and the molecule is happy to do that and releases energy. So on top of all the crystals forming, the beaker got seriously hot. I just sat there watching it thinking “this is so cool”. I actually really needed the molecule – I was doing my PhD and my boss wanted the molecule for something else. But if I’d had more time to play I could have heated the whole thing up with a bunsen and dissolved the crystals and repeated the whole thing. I could have sold tickets to the show.
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