Types of Crystal Growth
Created by the students of Mr. Nairne's 7th Grade Life Science Class 2009/10
My class will be conducting experiments while growing Borax Crystals. Our questions we decided to try and gather data on where:
Does it matter what color our pipe cleaner is?
Is there a difference between using string or a pipe cleaner in the size of the crystals?
We wanted to first define what a crystal is. In doing this research, the students found some interesting items that we decided to post.
What is a Crystal?
Crystals are solids that form by a regular repeated pattern of molecules connecting together. In some solids, the arrangements of the building blocks (atoms and molecules) can be random or very different throughout the material. In crystals, however, a collections of atoms called the Unit Cell is repeated in exactly the same arrangement over and over throughout the entire material. (Kiwi Web)
A crystal is a substance in which the atoms, molecules, or ions which make up the substance are arranged in a regularly ordered, repeating, 3-dimensional pattern. (Squiddo)
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. (Wiki)
Pictures of our Crystals:
Science Links Related to Crystals:
The Mohs Scale of Hardness measures how well a substance resists scratching by another material. You can use this scale to test the hardness of rocks, minerals, and crystals, to help identify them.
Types of Crystals - Shapes and Structures
Types of Crystals - Shapes and Structures
Over 4,442 mineral species descriptions are included in this HTML-linked table of crystallography for all known valid mineral species.