Creative work about crystals. How to grow a crystal Need crystals

Instructions

In order to grow a salt crystal at home, you should prepare the necessary equipment, materials and tools.
1) The main component is salt. The cleaner it is, the more successful the result of the experiment will be, and the clearer the edges of the crystal will be. Considering that table salt in most cases contains a large amount of small debris, it is better to give preference to sea salt without dyes and all kinds of additives.
2) It is also more correct to take water that is maximally purified from various impurities, i.e. distilled. If you don’t have one at hand, first filter ordinary water.
3) To grow crystals, use a thoroughly washed non-metallic container that will not oxidize when exposed to salts. It's better to take glassware. If there are even the smallest specks inside the bowl, they will certainly slow down the growth of the main crystal, turning into a kind of basis for the development of small specimens.
4) The basis for a future large crystal can be either a small crystal of salt or any other object, for example, a wire, thread, or a piece of a branch.
5) Also useful when forming a crystal from salt are a wooden stick for stirring the solution, paper napkins, filter or gauze, and varnish for coating the finished salt crystal.

Prepare the materials and tools necessary for growing a crystal, be patient and get to work. The process itself will not require much participation from you. In a glass cup, prepare a saturated saline solution from 100 ml of hot water and 40 g of salt, let the liquid cool and pass it through filter paper or several layers of gauze rolled up.

The next step is to place the object around which the crystal will subsequently form in a container with a saline solution. If you want a traditional shaped specimen, place a regular grain of salt in the bottom of the cup. If you want to grow an elongated crystal, tie a grain of salt to a thread and secure it in the container so that it does not touch its bottom and walls. If your plans are to obtain a complex, bizarre shape, the basis for the future crystal should be a small curved twig or twisted wire. As a base for a crystal, you can use absolutely any object that is not subject to salt oxidation.

Be sure to cover the cup with the crystal with a lid, a sheet of paper or a napkin to prevent debris and dust from getting into it. Next, store the container in a dark, cool, draft-free place and ensure complete peace of mind. During the development of the crystal, do not allow changes in air humidity and sudden changes in temperature in the room where it is located, avoid shaking it and moving it too frequently. Do not place the crystal near heating appliances or near a stove.

As the crystal grows, the salt content in the surrounding liquid will decrease. With this in mind, add saturated brine to the container once a week. When the crystal grows to the required size, carefully remove it from the liquid and place it on a clean paper napkin and blot gently with a soft cloth. In order for the fragile crystal to gain strength, cover it with colorless manicure varnish. If this is not done, the craft will be destroyed. In a dry air environment, the crystal will crumble into powder, when high humidity air will turn into mush.

White crystals are obtained from table and sea salt. You can get a craft of a different shade using several simple methods.
1) A colored salt crystal can be obtained if you use not ordinary salt, but, for example, copper sulfate, which can give the result of your work a rich blue color.
2) Instead of clear nail polish, you can use a colored polish to treat the crystal.
3) At the crystal preparation stage, add food coloring to the salt solution, for example, for coloring easter eggs.

If you notice that the crystal is not taking on the shape you planned, carefully scrape off the excess areas using a sharp knife or nail file. Subsequently, treat those areas of the crystal that you do not want to allow to grow with glycerin or any other thick, fatty compound. You can remove the applied product with alcohol or acetone.

There are several reasons why you may fail to grow a crystal from salt. Firstly, a piece of salt taken as a basis may dissolve. This is usually indicated by an insufficiently saturated saline solution that you used to grow the craft. Secondly, instead of one large crystal, you can get several small ones at once. This can happen due to the presence of foreign impurities in the solution or the entry of debris, dust particles and other unwanted objects into it. Thirdly, when obtaining colored specimens, the color of the finished crystals may be uneven. The main reason for this reaction is that the dye is not stirred thoroughly after adding it to the saline solution.

A more or less decent-sized crystal will form no earlier than 3-4 weeks after placing its base in a saline solution, so be patient and do not forget to follow the basic recommendations for growing crystals from salt at home yourself.

Today we will talk about such things that are necessary in crafting as crystals and gemstones of all grades, and specifically about methods for obtaining them.

For any craft, you need crystals and gemstones of different grades, some can be bought in the store, some from the Mammon merchant in the week of the victory of the seven seals, some are obtained by breaking various things into crystals.
It makes sense to break gear (or guns) mainly only of grade D, and even then only that which is sold in stores for adena, rare things (such as parts or a top D plate set are simply a pity to break), and everything higher than D grade and even more so.
No, of course I broke both C and B and even A things (when crystals are very urgently needed - this is at the start of the server, when you simply cannot get them in other ways), and when the server is already developed, I even prefer to do it differently: when people contact me with a request to break some thing of grade B and A (mainly Avadon and Zubey heavy and light bodies, as well as DK heavy and light), I simply give people the number of crystals that they will receive from breaking this thing, and I’m keeping the little thing for myself, since in any case there will be people to whom we will subsequently sell this little thing, and much more expensively than it would be in the form of crystals. Well, let’s talk about all this in more detail below:

With grade D crystals, everything is simple - we go to the weapons store in Giran, buy a D gun and break it into crystals. I have never calculated the cost of crystals received using this method, and you only need to calculate it on x1 servers; if the rates of your server are higher, then there is no point in calculating these pennies. The resulting D crystals are sold for approximately 740 adena (plus/minus, depending on the specific prices prevailing on the server).

With C crystals, everything is also simple - everything is based on the fact that low C duals can be soldered from D swords, bought in the same weapons store. Therefore, we buy the required number of D one-handed swords (I prefer to dualize Elven Sword * Elven Sword) and go to the forge of Giran to Pushkin. We dualize the bullets with him and immediately break them into crystals. The received Cris are sold for approximately 3,400 adena (plus/minus, depends on the specific prices prevailing on the server).

With B crystals it’s already more complicated - there are three main ways to get it:

1. Breaking a thing into crystals is a barbaric method, I personally feel sorry for it, but sometimes you have to do this. The only thing I’ll note is that never break B guns (well, except for low B guns), since any B gun is quite rare due to the difficulties in obtaining recipes for its crafting.

2. If the server is sufficiently developed and there are dual craft stamps on the server. We buy in the Luxor store in Giran for D and C crystals two C swords (I take the word of defusion), we buy a dual craft stamp as cheaply as possible (why is it cheaper? Yes, because the cost of the B crystals received will directly depend on the price of the craft stamp), we go to the blacksmith in Oren and double the B pellets using a craft stamp. We break and use the crystals for our needs. They sell B crystals from 20k to 50k (also depends on the server).

3. If the server has just opened and there are no crafting stamps, then in the week of victory of the seven seals you can exchange grade C swords from the blacksmith Mammon, which are dual in Aden without using a dual crafting stamp, but with the help of SoPs (). We buy the same word of delusion in the Giran luxor and go to the kata to look for the blacksmith of Mammon, exchange (for free) the deluges for a word of Nightmare:

We take the two swords received from Mammon, 45 sops and go to the forge of Aden, where we dually, without any stamp B, canisters for scrapping:

With grade A and S crystals everything is even worse than with the others. As you understand, crafted bullets are no longer broken here due to their high cost, so we either break cheaper gear (DK light or heavy body, Tallum light body) or buy crystals in the week of victory of the seven seals from the merchant Mammon for ancient adena. Purchase price: A crystal - 15k AA, S crystal - 25k AA. But here the easier it is, that the A and S guns are actively sharpened, and therefore break from time to time, so you can put a charmer on buying A and S crystals, sometimes you can even buy them very cheaply.

These gems can be bought in the store, just keep in mind that not every city has them. Gemstones are sold in Giran, Rune, Shuga and Goddard.

A and S gemstones are bought from the Mammon merchant in the week of victory of the seven seals for ancient adena, the price of an A gem is 30k AA, an S gemstone is 100k AA.

That’s basically all I wanted to tell you about crystals and gems. I deliberately do not write the selling prices of A and Y criss and gems, since they are tied to the prices of ancient adena, and the price of AA differs significantly on different servers.

This article was written at the request of Dmitry Plakhov.

Addition: has been added

The times were theorized just a few years ago and confirmed recently. The articles reporting this do not say what they can be used for. Of course, every branch of physics can help us better understand the world, but have there been any proposals for practical applications of time crystals?

There are and have been events, especially in nuclear physics, when practical application something was conceived before it was first proven or synthesized. What about so-called “time crystals”? What can they be used for where conventional superconductors are not enough?

Answers

Anna v

About the state of the research by the summer of 2017. I copy the conclusions:

In this article, we reviewed the current state of research on time crystals, originally proposed by Wilczek (2012), that is, phenomena associated with the self-organization of many-body quantum systems in time. This type of self-organization is truly a quantum effect and should be distinguished from classical self-organization phenomena, where nonlinear oscillators synchronize their motion if the coupling between them is strong enough. The formation of temporary crystals is quite similar to the formation of cosmic crystals.

While the original time crystal proposal proved impossible to implement, Wilczek's vision opened up a new area of ​​research and became an inspiration for other scientists.

Continues to describe the last sentences and ends:

We believe that the current strong activity in the field of time crystals will reveal new phenomena that are difficult to detect in condensed matter systems or that have simply not been noticed so far. Given that the temporal degree of freedom adds an extra dimension, further opportunities for new discoveries open up.

Nowhere in this review is there a list of “practical applications.”

In general searches you can find vague suggestions that time crystals would be useful for quantum computing:

While Yao finds it difficult to imagine using a time crystal, other proposed nonequilibrium matter phases theoretically promise near-perfect memories and could be useful in quantum computers.

So, in my opinion, it is still at the research level, experimental and theoretical, and it is too early to evaluate possible applications. After all, when Maxwell came up with his equations that predicted electromagnetic waves, ~1860s Hertz measured them in 1887, almost thirty years later, and the first practical application in communications occurred in the 1890s. In the days of electromagnetic waves, proposals for wireless communications were unheard of.

With our accelerated times (5 years between Wilczek's proposal and experiments, and many researchers working away), applications should not be far away.

Gareth Claborne

Time crystals could be very useful in quantum computing and possibly fusion for the same reasons. Essentially, time crystals provide a more stable quantum environment than a conventional particle beam.

Since temporary crystals have some self-preservation of their state, even without temporary external influence, they also have additional resistance to all randomness of thermal entropy and external vibrations. This makes them ideal for some RAM designs.

It should also be theoretically possible to create a time and space lattice at high pressures and temperatures, but I don't know what level of technology this would require. I think the resonant voltage on the materials will be quite high.

Of course, there are other use cases. Another use of quantum computing would be a timer.

Rococo

What to expect? I don't see anything to do with fusion beams or particles at all...

Rococo

Or why it would be a better timer than any other generator...

Gareth Claborne

@Rococo oh okay. you will eventually. According to the beams, some implementations of time crystals were already in the form of a particle beam. According to the confluence, this is quite a complex discussion. often one goal in a fusion reactor is to inject pressure/heat/energy into a small local area with precise timing and regularity. Time crystals provide the ability to fine-tune whether reactions are above or below the threshold required to maintain melting, while at the same time providing specifications for the heat that the reactor walls must withstand.

Gareth Claborne

@Rococo, according to use as a timer, no one mentioned "better", however they are better than a standard generator since the time crystals are less affected by system noise.

Rococo

"According to the beams, some implementations of time crystals were already in particle beam form", could you provide a quote or link explaining what you mean? Thank you.

Have you ever heard the word “crystal”? Of course. But ask yourself, what crystals are you familiar with? The first to come to mind are most likely bright gems: emerald, some will remember purple amethyst, some will remember cherry-red garnet, and some will remember rock crystal - colorless quartz. Without these shiny multi-colored pebbles, life would become dull, deprived of their colors, their little secrets.

There is something amazing and mesmerizing about crystals. They amaze with their clarity of lines and symmetry, which hides extraordinary beauty. I immediately became interested in the topic “crystals”. Natural crystals have always aroused people's curiosity. Amazing polyhedrons have long attracted people's attention. Medieval alchemists thought that natural crystals were created by God once and for all. Their color, shine and shape touched the human sense of beauty, and people decorated themselves and their homes with them. For a long time, superstitions have been associated with crystals; as amulets, they were supposed to not only protect their owners from evil spirits, but also endow them with supernatural powers.

The crystals are so beautiful that you can admire them for hours. What kind of crystalline forms nature has not created! Columns, cubes, pyramids, stars! The variety of bizarre shapes and colors of crystals is amazing.

The beauty of crystals has always fascinated people. It was previously believed that rock crystal (a type of quartz) was petrified ice that would never melt. In fact, crystals (from the Greek word “Krios” - “icy cold”) are solid bodies with a strict internal arrangement of atoms, which corresponds to the symmetry of their outer smooth surfaces - faces.

The science that studies crystals and their properties is called crystallography.

Crystallography originated in antiquity and developed in close connection with mineralogy as a science that established the laws of crystal cutting.

Observing and measuring the cutting of crystals, establishing the laws of cutting is the subject of geometric crystallography. On the basis of geometric crystallography, a hypothesis arose about the ordered, three-dimensional periodic arrangement in a crystal of its constituent particles, in the modern sense - atoms and molecules that form a crystal lattice. Structural crystallography studies the atomic-molecular structure of crystals using X-ray diffraction analysis, electron diffraction, neutron diffraction, and electron microscopy.

The symmetry and structural patterns studied by crystallography find application in the consideration of the general patterns of the structure and properties of the condensed state of matter: amorphous bodies and liquids, polymers, biological macromolecules, supramolecular structures, etc. This is what generalized crystallography deals with. Studying crystals means studying almost all the bodies around us. Sciences such as physics and chemistry study the structure and properties of crystals.

Crystals are solids whose atoms or molecules occupy specific, ordered positions in space. Therefore, the crystals have flat edges. Crystals are characterized by significant intermolecular interaction forces.

They have the right geometric shape, which is the result of the ordered arrangement of particles that make up the crystal. The regular arrangement of particles with periodic repetition in three dimensions is called a spatial (crystalline) lattice. The shape that a single crystal takes when all random factors are eliminated during its growth is called ideal. Ideal shape The crystal has the shape of a polyhedron. Such a crystal is limited by flat faces, straight edges and has symmetry.

Not all crystals are the same. There are single crystals and polycrystals. A solid consisting of a large number of small crystals is called polycrystalline. Single crystals are called single crystals.

A feature of single crystals is the dependence of physical properties (elastic, mechanical, thermal, electromagnetic, optical, etc.) on the direction of observation, i.e. anisotropy. A polycrystal consists of many randomly oriented small single crystals and therefore does not have anisotropy.

Anisotropy remains at the level of small single crystals

Crystals have symmetry of the atomic structure, corresponding symmetry of the external form, as well as anisotropy of physical properties. When external conditions change, the crystal structure may change. Most natural solid materials are polycrystalline.

1. 2 Liquid and solid crystals

In nature, you can often see the iridescent wings of a beetle or dragonfly, or watch the rapidly changing numbers of a digital clock. It's hard to guess what might unite these seemingly unrelated things. It turns out that their common participants are liquid crystals.

There are substances, both natural and artificial, that in a certain temperature range are fluid, like liquids, but retain the internal order of their constituent particles-molecules, which is inherent in solids. When the temperature drops, they turn into solid crystals, and when heated, they become ordinary liquids.

These substances combine the properties of crystals and liquids. They are formed from organic chains similar to polymers. The elongated shape of these tiny particles determines the unusual properties of liquid crystals. Several thousand organic compounds are known to form liquid crystals, the molecules of which are elongated or disk-shaped.

However, at temperatures below the critical temperature (which is different for each substance), a preferred direction appears in the liquid, along which the axes of the molecules begin to be oriented. As a result, a liquid crystal with characteristic anisotropy of properties is formed.

Liquid crystal particles are capable of immediately changing their orientation based on an external signal. When observing the change of numbers on the display of a microcalculator or watch, a similar process occurs there - an electrical signal is applied to certain areas and they change their transparency.

More and more often we began to encounter the term “liquid crystals”. We all often communicate with them, and they play an important role in our lives. Many modern devices and devices work on them. These include watches, thermometers, displays, monitors and other devices. What kind of substances are these with such a paradoxical name “liquid crystals” and why is there such significant interest in them? In our time, science has become a productive force, and therefore, as a rule, increased scientific interest in a particular phenomenon or object means that this phenomenon or object is of interest for material production. In this regard, liquid crystals are no exception. Interest in them is primarily due to their capabilities effective application in a number of industries. The introduction of liquid crystals means cost-effectiveness, simplicity, and convenience.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many very reputable scientists were very skeptical about the discovery of Reinitzer and Lehmann. The fact is that not only the described contradictory properties of liquid crystals seemed very dubious to many authorities, but also that the properties of various liquid crystalline substances (compounds that had a liquid crystalline phase) turned out to be significantly different. Thus, some liquid crystals had very high viscosity, while others had low viscosity. Some liquid crystals showed a sharp change in color with a change in temperature, so that their color ran through all the tones of the rainbow, while other liquid crystals did not show such a sharp change in color. Finally, appearance samples, or, as they say, texture, of various liquid crystals, when viewed under a microscope, turned out to be completely different. In one case, formations similar to threads could be visible in the field of a polarizing microscope, in another, images similar to mountain relief were observed, and in the third, a pattern resembled fingerprints. There was also a question: why is the liquid crystalline phase observed during the melting of only some substances? Liquid crystals with anisotropy of properties associated with order in the orientation of molecules. Due to the strong dependence of the properties of liquid crystals on external influences, they find a variety of applications in technology.

Solids are divided into crystalline and amorphous.

Crystalline bodies are characterized by the presence of long-range order - spatial periodicity in the arrangement of atoms. In amorphous bodies, atoms vibrate around randomly located points, in this case they speak of the presence of short-range order.

The crystalline state is stable, the amorphous state is unstable; over time, amorphous bodies must crystallize.

An amorphous state is a solid non-crystalline state of a substance, characterized by isotropy of physical properties and the absence of a specific melting point. As the temperature increases, an amorphous substance (glass, many plastics) softens and gradually turns into a liquid state. With prolonged exposure with low force, amorphous bodies, like liquids, exhibit fluidity.

Based on the types of connections between particles, solids are divided into five classes:

1) ionic crystals in which the main forces of attraction acting between ions are electrostatic forces;

2) crystals with a covalent bond, in which the valence electrons of neighboring crystals are shared; a crystal is like a huge molecule;

3) metals in which the binding energy is determined by the collective interaction of mobile electrons with the ionic island - metallic bond;

4) molecular crystals in which molecules are connected by weak electrostatic forces (van der Waals forces) caused by the dynamic polarization of molecules;

5) crystals with hydrogen bonds, in which each hydrogen atom is connected by forces of attraction simultaneously with two other atoms. It is the hydrogen bond, together with the electrostatic attraction of the dipole moments of water molecules, that determines the properties of water and ice.

1. 3 Snowflakes

Every winter, billions of snow crystals fall to the ground. Their cold perfection and absolute symmetry are amazing. It’s strange that people noticed these “jewels made of ice” only recently.

How many writers and philosophers were fascinated by this short-lived beauty! This is how the hero of Thomas Mann saw the snowflakes: “In appearance they were shapeless scraps, but he had already looked at them more than once through his magnifying glass and knew perfectly well what elegant, clearly made tiny jewelry they were made of - from pendants, order stars, diamonds agraphs; The most skillful jeweler could not have worked more luxuriously and carefully than them.”

Snowflakes (snow), solid precipitation consisting of ice crystals of various shapes.

It is very interesting to look at snowflakes, if only because no two identical ones have ever fallen to the ground.

Snowflakes have more than once become the subject of serious scientific research. The very first treatise on snowflakes was written in 1611 by John Kepler. In it, he speculates about why snow crystals are hexagonal in shape.

Since then, many scientists have tried to answer this question. Even X-ray technology came to their aid, but even today there is no exact explanation.

In desperation, scientists decided to assume that Kepler was right in believing that snowflakes, like plants, have a semblance of a soul, which models their shape.

In 1635, philosopher and mathematician Rene Descartes first began to describe the types of snowflakes by looking at them with the naked eye. He was the first to find and describe a rather rare 12-pointed snowflake.

In 1665, Robert Hook examined snowflakes under a microscope.

And the first photograph of a snow crystal under a microscope was taken on January 15, 1885 by young Wilson Bentley, the son of a farmer from Vermont. And he was so amazed by the result that Snowflake, as Bentley was nicknamed, devoted the rest of his life to snow. Over the course of 47 years (he died in 1931), Bentley managed to photograph about 5,600 snow crystals.

Comparing the pictures, the self-taught photographer discovered that no two of them were alike. And, by the way, no one had noticed this before him! A photographer in love with snow, who shot snowflakes with a homemade bulky camera, admitted: “Every time I can’t fully believe that all this beauty will melt in a moment and disappear without a trace.”

The first systematic studies of snow crystals were undertaken in the 1930s by Japanese scientist Ukihiro Nakaya. It all started with a lack of money. The laboratory of the professor at Hokkaido University was sorely lacking the necessary equipment. But there was plenty of snow around. Like many Japanese, physicist Nakaya always admired its beauty - in Japanese culture there is even a special concept “yukimi”, which means “admiring snow”.

In Japan, there is the Ukihiro Nakaya Museum of Snow and Ice, which houses the first photographs and a machine for making snowflakes.

The scientist decided to take a closer look at the snowflakes. Having built a freezer, Nakaya began to observe under a microscope what shapes snow crystals take under different conditions. Despite the dizzying variety of snowflakes, Nakaya managed to see something in common in them. As a result, he identified 41 types of snowflakes and compiled the first classification. In addition, the hardworking Japanese grew the first “artificial” snowflake and found out that the size and shape of the resulting ice crystals depend on air temperature and humidity.

Although no two snowflakes are alike, they can be roughly divided into several types:

STARKS

They usually have six symmetrical rays coming from the center and branching out like tree branches at the ends. Diameter – 5 mm and more, thickness 0.1 mm.

PLATE

Flat, as if flattened, stars with different amounts edges and a stunning variety of tip shapes.

HOLLOW COLUMNS - the main elements of most snowfalls - are similar wooden pencil, with conical hollow ends. It happens that due to a sharp temperature change, the column suddenly continues as a plate fragment.

NEEDLE

Snowflakes with long, thin ends.

NON-STANDARD

In general, snowflakes hard life. Finding themselves in a turbulent cloud, many break down and do not have time to purchase correct form. “Warm” snowfalls with strong winds bring the most non-standard, defective snowflakes.

And sometimes they become overgrown with snow and turn into balls.

Laboratory experiments on growing snowflakes have shown that the shape of snowflakes directly depends on temperature and air humidity.

Each snow crystal is unique. However, all snowflakes have a common feature - they have hexagonal symmetry. Therefore, the “stars” always grow three, six or twelve rays.

Hailstones ranging in size from a few millimeters to 20 cm alternate between transparent and cloudy layers of ice, sometimes dust particles and even insects “get stuck” in them.

Few people are delighted with hail, but even such crystals have their own charm: the more complex and unusual the path of hailstones, the more unique their shape. And the more surprising the mystery. No wonder Ukihiro Nakaya once said: “Snow is a message from heaven, written in secret hieroglyphs.”

Symmetry has many faces. It has properties that are at the same time simple. And they are complex, capable of manifesting themselves both once and infinitely many times.

“I believe that the warmth, which until now had protected the substance, was overcome by the cold, and it acted (full of the formative principle), observing order, and fought without disturbing it, and it took flight, maintaining a certain order, and retreated.” . I. Kepler

II. Symmetry in crystals

Looking at various crystals, we see that they are all different in shape, but each of them represents a symmetrical body. Indeed, symmetry is one of the main properties of crystals. We have become accustomed to the concept of symmetry since childhood. We call bodies symmetrical if they consist of equal, identical parts.

Ideal crystal shapes are symmetrical. According to the famous Russian crystallographer E. S. Fedorov (1853-1919), “crystals shine with symmetry.”

In crystals you can find various elements of symmetry: axis of symmetry, plane of symmetry, center of symmetry.

For example, cube-shaped crystals (potassium chloride, table salt, etc.) have nine planes of symmetry, three of which run parallel to the faces of the cube, and six along diagonals. In addition, the cube has three 4th order axes of symmetry, four 3rd order axes and six 2nd order axes. The cube also has a center of symmetry. There are a total of 23 symmetry elements in the cube.

Crystals of diamond and potassium alum have the shape of octahedrons. Octahedrons have the same symmetry elements as cubes. The figure shows the rotation axes of the octahedron.

Magnesium crystals, which have the shape of a hexagonal prism (i.e., a prism resting on a regular hexagon), have 6 planes of symmetry and one symmetry axis of the 6th order.

Copper sulfate crystals have only a center of symmetry; they have no other symmetry elements.

From this short overview of the symmetries of various crystals, we can conclude that different crystals have different symmetries.

The symmetry of crystals has always attracted the attention of scientists. Already in the year 79 of our chronology, Pliny the Elder mentions the flat-sided and straight-sided nature of crystals. This conclusion can be considered the first generalization of geometric crystallography. Since then, over the course of many centuries, material has accumulated very slowly and gradually, making it possible at the end of the 18th century. discover the most important law of geometric crystallography - the law of constancy of dihedral angles. This law is usually associated with the name of the French scientist Romé de Lisle, who in 1783. published a monograph containing abundant material on measuring the angles of natural crystals. For each substance (mineral) he studied, it turned out to be true that the angles between the corresponding faces in all crystals of the same substance are constant.

One should not think that before Rome de Lisle, none of the scientists dealt with this problem. The history of the discovery of the law of constancy of angles has covered a long, almost two-century path before this law was clearly formulated and generalized for all crystalline substances. For example, I. Kepler already in 1615 pointed out the preservation of angles of 60° between the individual rays of snowflakes. In 1669, N. Stenon discovered the law of constancy of angles in quartz and hematite crystals. Carefully examining real quartz crystals, Stenon also noticed their deviation from ideal geometric polyhedra with flat faces and straight edges. In his treatise, he for the first time introduced into science a real crystal with its imperfections and deviations from idealized schemes. However, all these deviations did not prevent the scientist from discovering the basic law of geometric crystallography on the same quartz crystals. However, he wrote about this very briefly in the explanations to the drawings attached to his essay, so the honor of being called the author of the law went to Lily. A year later, Stenon E. Bartolin made the same conclusion in relation to calcite crystals, and in 1695. Leeuwenhoek - to gypsum crystals. He showed that both microscopically small and large gypsum crystals have the same angles between the corresponding faces. In Russia, the law of constancy of angles was discovered by M.V. Lomonosov for saltpeter crystals (1749), pyrite, diamond and some other minerals.

However, let's return to the definition given by Lile. In his version, the law of constancy of angles reads as follows: “The faces of a crystal can change in their shape and relative sizes, but their mutual inclinations are constant and unchanged for each type of crystal.”

What is meant by the corresponding edges?

In geometry, faces (flat polygons) are considered equal if, when superimposed, they coincide with all their points. In crystallography, equality of faces means something completely different. Faces can differ from each other in shape and still be considered equal if they have the same physical and chemical properties. It is sometimes possible to establish the equality of the faces in a crystallographic sense by examining them externally. In doubtful cases, the surface of the crystal is etched with acid. On equal faces, the pattern obtained by etching will be the same.

Three types of edges can be installed in a quartz crystal. Although different quartz crystals have edges different size and shape, they are considered equal.

The law of constancy of angles states that the dihedral angle formed by faces a and b will be the same in different crystals of a given substance. Accordingly, in all crystals of a given substance, the dihedral angles formed by faces a and c, b and c will be equal.

So, all crystals have the property that the angles between the corresponding faces are constant. The edges of individual crystals may be developed differently: edges observed on some specimens may be absent on others - but if we measure the angles between the corresponding faces, then the values ​​​​of these angles will remain constant regardless of the shape of the crystal.

However, as the technique improved and the accuracy of measuring crystals increased, it became clear that the law of constant angles was only approximately justified. In the same crystal, the angles between faces of the same type are slightly different from each other. For many substances, the deviation of the dihedral angles between the corresponding faces reaches 10 – 20’, and in some cases even a degree.

The faces of a real crystal are never perfect flat surfaces. They are often covered with pits or growth tubercles; in some cases, the edges are curved surfaces, such as diamond crystals.

III. Case studies

Crystal, therefore renewed

Decorate my peaceful corner

The pledge of sacred poetry,

And friendship is a sweet guarantee.

There is a healing heat hidden within you.

A. S. Pushkin

Crystals can grow both in nature and in artificial conditions.

In nature, crystals grow near bodies of water.

In salt lakes, in shallow water, the water heats up and evaporates. Salt precipitates, building up at the bottom. This is how salt marshes are formed, representing the bottom of dry lakes.

Crystal growth under artificial conditions:

Under artificial conditions, crystals are grown from a solution or from a melt.

The development of science and technology has led to the fact that many crystals rarely found in nature have become necessary for the manufacture of parts for devices, machines, and for scientific research. The demand for many crystals has increased so much that it has become impossible to satisfy it by mining old and searching for new natural deposits. The task of developing technology arose artificially made crystals

The most common methods for growing crystals are crystallization from a melt and crystallization from a solution. These technologies are very complex.

However, anyone can grow some crystals at home by crystallization from aqueous solution crystalline substance.

Crystals are grown from solution mainly in two ways. One of them is cooling a saturated solution of a substance. As the temperature decreases, the solubility of most substances decreases and they are said to precipitate. First, tiny crystal seeds appear in the solution and gradually they turn into beautiful crystals of the correct shape.

Another method of growing crystals is to gradually remove water (evaporation) from a saturated solution. In this case, the slower the water is removed, the better the crystals obtained. It is necessary to leave the open vessel with the solution at room temperature- the water will evaporate slowly.

Growing crystals is not an idle pastime. In nature, crystals grow over millions of years. Is it possible to speed up this process? It turns out it is possible.

No rubies, no diamonds, no others precious stones We cannot grow it in a school laboratory.

But what we can handle is also quite beautiful. We obtained all the crystals from saturated solutions, that is, from those in which so much substance is dissolved that it no longer dissolves. For these purposes, water must be heated, then it will hold more substance.

We prepared the solution like this: pour the substance into hot (but not boiling) water in portions and stir with a glass rod until completely dissolved. As soon as a substance stops dissolving, this means that at a given temperature the solution is saturated.

We started growing crystals from simple substances - table salt and sugar. Hot saturated solutions were prepared in two thin glasses. A stick was placed on top with a thread wrapped around it. A small weight, a button, was hung to the free end of the thread. So that the thread straightens and hangs vertically in the solution, without reaching the bottom.

We left the glass for 2 – 3 days.

We saw that the thread was overgrown with crystals: in one vessel there were sugar crystals, and in the other - salt crystals. After testing with table salt and sugar, we became interested in the issue of growing crystals from other substances that are available in our laboratory.

We grew all crystals by evaporation of a saturated solution.

IV. Crystals in the modern world.

Crystals have played and still play an important role in human life. They have optical and mechanical properties, which is why the first lenses, including glasses, were made from them. Crystals are still used to make prisms and lenses for optical devices. Crystals played an important role in many technical innovations of the 20th century. Based on the laws of optics, scientists were looking for a transparent, colorless and defect-free mineral from which lenses could be made by grinding and polishing. Uncolored quartz crystals have the necessary optical and mechanical properties, and the first lenses, including those for glasses, were made from them.

Even after the advent of artificial optical glass, the need for crystals did not completely disappear; crystals of quartz, calcite and other transparent substances that transmit ultraviolet and infrared radiation are still used to make prisms and lenses for optical devices.

Their first significant application was the manufacture of radio frequency oscillators stabilized by quartz crystals. By forcing a quartz plate to vibrate in the electric field of a radio frequency oscillatory circuit, one can thereby stabilize the receiving or transmitting frequency. Semiconductor devices, which revolutionized electronics, are made from crystalline substances, mainly silicon and germanium. In this case, alloying impurities that are introduced into the crystal lattice play an important role.

Semiconductor diodes are used in computers and communications systems; transistors have replaced vacuum tubes in radio engineering, and solar panels placed on the outer surface of spacecraft transform solar energy to electric. Semiconductors are also widely used in AC-DC converters.

Recently, several billion dollars a year have been invested in the development of the latest technologies; conventional televisions and computer monitors are being replaced by liquid crystal displays. There are great hopes for liquid crystals - many scientists predict the fastest growth in this area in microelectronics in the next decade. Liquid crystals are widely used in the production of wristwatches and small calculators. Flat-panel televisions with thin liquid crystal screens are being created. Relatively recently, carbon and polymer fibers based on liquid crystal matrices were obtained.

Liquid crystals are also used in medicine. The idea of ​​replacing X-ray radiation with ultrasound arose a long time ago, because ultrasound is harmless to the human body. However, the difficulty was in recording the ultrasound flow passing through the patient's body. And here liquid crystals offered their help - they turned out to be sensitive to ultrasound. In this case, the molecular packing of the liquid crystal is disrupted, and the optical picture of these violations makes it possible to judge the state internal organs person.

In addition, recently the issue of the role of liquid crystals in the occurrence of certain diseases in the human body has been seriously considered. The prevalence of liquid crystals in living tissues is not surprising. The main activity of the cell is metabolism. Liquid crystals are the ideal formation for this. They can absorb substances from the gas or liquid phase, and can dissolve many substances, even those of a different molecular structure. Important role The liquid crystalline state plays a role in systems that provide lubrication to various surfaces in the body. Based on many studies, new laser systems have been created that are used in dentistry to treat caries.

V. Conclusion

Man encounters crystals everywhere: he eats salt and sugar, admires the sparkling snow in clear winter weather, and, in general, lives in a world of crystals that amazes with its diversity. Crystals are extremely interesting and amazing.

Crystals are minerals formed from three-dimensional repeating patterns of atoms. The appearance of a crystal depends on the natural characteristics of its type and the conditions in which it grows. Some take strange shapes, some are very small, and some grow very large, developing over a thousand years.

How are crystals programmed and cleaned?

The repeating chemical structure of crystals is capable of memory. This means that crystals have the power to hold energy. Quartz crystal with intention is filled with love. This is what programming the crystal entails. No wires or special connection to God is needed - all that is needed is intention. The crystal will remember love, which will then penetrate into any environment, where the crystal is located.
Crystals can remember negative and positive energies and therefore will need to be cleaned occasionally. For example, an amethyst will actually help cleanse a room of negative energies (anger) but this means that the amethyst that will retain the element of this negative energy, so they require cleaning.

There are different ways to cleanse crystals. One of the most common is to flood them in sea ​​water for a couple of days. Another method involves burying the crystals in the garden for several days, leaving them underground for a while.

Characteristics of individual types of stones

Different stones have different energetic properties. For example, Eye of the Tigers can help those seeking enlightenment and clarity, Lapis Lazuli expands awareness and helps tune intuition. Rose Quartz calms emotions and eases emotional trauma just by holding it in your hands
These values ​​are simply interpretations of the energy of each crystalline carrier:

• Red is the color of action, and red stones can strengthen and revitalize in the same way as the blood in the human body.
• White or clear stones, such as quartz, help you see the world around you clearly.
• Purple stones help in transformation and change.

When working with crystals, you need to read books and understand the stones. You need to learn how to work and form your own opinion on the techniques. The shape of the crystal may also indicate quality.
Below is a list of the most commonly available crystal forms:

— Pointed sticks

Often these crystals are used extensively in healing and healing, cleansing and cleansing, and are also used as jewelry.

— Pieces (bars)

The pieces are crystals with no particularly known aspects. They can be good for enriching the atmosphere of rooms, for holding time for reflection.

— Crystal druses (Groups)

Crystal druses are made up of small crystals that grow naturally. Druses have a beneficial effect on the environment and harmonize the atmosphere of the workplace. They harmonize, purify or calm the atmosphere around them.

-Cut out crystals.

Crystals of certain shapes. Such as pyramids, sticks or spheres look attractive. If they are done well, the energy for a long time maintained and increased.

— Hanging stones
Small stones or crystals, smooth and shiny. Many people carry them in their pocket to hold the energy of the stone throughout the day.

You don't need to know the exact properties of each stone in order to buy one. It is more important to have a perception that will be meaningful to each specific person. When you are in a store just stand in front of a group of crystals, close your eyes and relax, and try to feel which stone attracts you or is the most attractive.
It also happens when you see a lot of beautiful crystals of various shapes and types, but nothing attracts you to buy. As with all purchases related to spiritual growth, like a crystal or a pendulum, it is important to tune in to the purchase. To do this, you first need to abstract yourself from routine problems that may interfere with the mood to make a purchase. Next, you need to understand why the crystal is needed, for what purposes, then close your eyes, take it and concentrate. Feel the energy of the crystal and then choose.

Sometimes you need to figure out what you need. We can clearly see how to help others in life, but our own life is colored by self-conceit. It is very difficult to be objective about yourself. We like that we are always surrounded by love, but in some situations we show sarcasm. We think that we are ready to forgive, but in reality we cannot talk to the person who offended us. Out of conceit and emotional state, the conscious “I” does not always choose crystals well. You may want to start purchasing a citrine crystal after reading that this crystal can help dispel negative energy. Don’t get upset if you fail and remember the main thing is diligence, and you will get everything, because practice is always needed to understand all the subtleties.

https://site/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/3370123574_478a61d963_b-1-1024x819.jpghttps://site/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/3370123574_478a61d963_b-1-150x150.jpg 2017-04-14T15:44:44+07:00 PsyPage Reflection Carved crystals, Fortune telling, Druze, Here and now, Mirror, stone, Crystals, Pendant stones, Real world, conscious selfWhat are crystals? Crystals are minerals formed from three-dimensional repeating patterns of atoms. The appearance of a crystal depends on the natural characteristics of its type and the conditions in which it grows. Some take strange shapes, some are very small, and some grow very large, developing over a thousand years. How are crystals programmed and cleaned? The repeating chemical structure of crystals can...PsyPage