Growing Crystals
Tip, Tricks, and Techniques
Do you want to grow great crystals? These are general instructions for growing crystals that you can use for most crystal recipes. You can find the recipes and information on crystal structures in the Growing Crystals section. Here are the basics, to get you started and help you troubleshoot problems:
What Are Crystals?
Crystals are structures that are formed from a regular repeated pattern of connected atoms or molecules. Crystals grow by a process termed nucleation. During nucleation, the atoms or molecules that will crystallize (solute) are dissolved into their individual units in a solvent. The solute particles contact each other and connect with each other. This subunit is larger than an individual particle, so more particles will contact and connect with it.
Eventually, this crystal nucleus becomes large enough that it falls out of solution (crystallizes). Other solute molecules will continue to attach to the surface of the crystal, causing it to grow until a balance or equilibrium is reached between the solute molecules in the crystal and those that remain in the solution.
The Basic Technique
1.Make a saturated solution.
2.Start a garden or grow a seed crystal.
3.Continue growth.
In order to grow a crystal, you need to make a solution which maximizes the chances for the solute particles to come together and form a nucleus, which will grow into your crystal. This means you will want a