How are Crystals Made

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How are Crystals Made?

• By David Braunstein
• MESA Schools Program
• Academic Coordinator

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Crystals

• MESA Specifications
• What are crystals?
• What materials can be used?
• What is the process for making crystals?
• What else is needed to be a winner?
• ExperimentMAKING IT CLEAR!

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MESA Specifications

• Material to be used is Potassium Alum. AlK(SO4)2
  . 12 H2O
• Also called Aluminum Potassium Sulfate
  Dodecahydrate.
• Crystal need to be large, clear, well-shaped, and
  beautiful.
• SOLUTION needs to be CLEAN.
• You need to WRITE what you do IN a LOGBOOK.

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MESA Specifications (cont)

• Growing time determined by the students.
• Display includes graph
• Crystal size (VOLUME) vs. TIME
• Take photos of Crystal growth during cycle.
• Size may be determined by
• Measurement
• Displacement
• Weighing and dividing by density (1.76 g/cm3)
• Write the data of the procedures and growth rate
  in the logbook.

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What are Crystals?

• A solid formed by the solidification of a
  chemical and having a highly regular atomic
  structure (Sodium Chloride is an example of
  crystals e.g. Table Salt.)

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Atomic Structure
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Chlorine Structure
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Sodium Structure
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Sodium and Chlorine Ions
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Sodium Chloride
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Sodium Chloride
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What is this?
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Diamond Structure
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GRAPHITE
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BUCKY BALLS
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ALUM CRYSTAL
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Crystal Concepts

• Basic concepts
• Solvent- That which does the dissolving. (water)
• Solute- That which gets dissolved (sugar)
• Solution- Mixture of Solvent and Solute.
• Solubility-amount of a solute that can be
  dissolved in a solvent.
• The amount of sugar that can be dissolved in
  water.

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GRAPH

• The graph demonstrates how various solutes have
  variable solubility according to the temperature
  of the solvent.

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Flow Diagram for Growing Crystals
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ALUM CRYSTAL