WEBVTT - How Crystals Work 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:03.400 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of My 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:12.520 Heart Radios How Stuff Works. He and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:15.200 I'm Josh Clark, and there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, and 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:23.560 there's Jerry over there. And this is crystals. How you doing? Man? Well, 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:27.400 what do you think? This is? This? It's okay? Is it? 0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:30.040 The the source material is not great. We won't say 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:34.680 where we got it. But um, I think that once 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:38.320 we kind of make it through the the structure part 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:41.920 will will be home free. Plus it's I mean plus 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:45.040 it's crystals, like they're they're so worth understanding, going to 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:51.640 the trouble of understanding because they are um basically a 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:56.520 finger in the eye to the tendency of the universe 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:01.640 to move towards chaos and disorder. Because a crystal is 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:06.600 the most ordered structure in the universe. It's a a 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:09.960 pattern that repeats over and over and over again, so 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:13.360 much so that in a crystal, if you look at 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:19.960 a perfectly formed, pure crystal that that came to be 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:24.480 under ideal conditions, the shape that you're looking at, if 0:01:24.520 --> 0:01:28.200 you could zoom in to the smallest three dimensional unit 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:32.240 of atoms inside that crystal, it would be the exact 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:37.040 same shape. Yeah, I mean that is one uh, the 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:40.520 one positive I took out of this article was just 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:44.039 that thing. Early on the author did about the word 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:50.240 crystallize m that we take colloquially. Colloquially, that was a 0:01:50.280 --> 0:01:53.320 couple of extrals in there that we take to you 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:56.000 know what, everyone knows what that means, and it means like, 0:01:56.160 --> 0:02:00.440 you know, someone has distilled and made order out of 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:04.400 something tough, uh, with their with their mouth words, right, 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:07.840 and that makes sense. Yeah, So when you when you 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:11.040 think about like an actual physical crystal, you get why 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:13.320 that word came from that, because it is that it 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:18.520 is this extreme order where all these molecules come together 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:26.160 as friends to be perfect together. So um, so we 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:30.240 both love crystals for basically the same reason. It sounds like, right, yeah, 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:33.760 and like that. Before I started researching this, I just thought, 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:36.200 I don't know, like crystals were just the things you 0:02:36.240 --> 0:02:40.160 buy in little five points at the shop with the 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:43.440 cookie person who you know, wears them on their forehead 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:48.400 for healing chakras. Before they were cool and I didn't 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:51.000 I didn't even realize that It's like crystals are also 0:02:51.080 --> 0:02:54.839 salt and sugar and snowflakes and diamonds and rubies. It's 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:57.520 it's uh like you're you're a crystal as far as 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:00.600 I'm concerned, So are you, Chuck? Thanks? Can we all 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:05.119 be crystals in our heart? Should our heart chakras? Yes? So? 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:07.399 Um yeah. There was a big takeaway from me too, 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:13.720 was the fact that crystals aren't necessarily a thing. There 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:16.320 a type of structure that a thing can fall into, 0:03:16.919 --> 0:03:18.680 you know what I mean? Ye, and there and there's 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:26.120 seven basic shapes or lattices that a crystal can take cubic, trigonal, 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:38.120 try clinic, mh orthorhombic, triamic, triaminic, hexagonal, tetragonal, and monoclinic monoclinic. 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:41.800 I don't I think there's like ten people on the 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:44.160 planet who say that word out loud. Ever, so however 0:03:44.200 --> 0:03:48.160 you want to say, nine of them will email us, right, 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:51.760 so um yeah, And again there's lattice shapes that you 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:55.480 just described. Those are three dimensional structures arrangements of atoms 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:58.839 and the crystal itself that you can sit and hold 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:00.320 in your hand and be like, I can feel the 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:04.600 energy just pulsating through this um. If you zoomed in 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:10.000 the smallest three dimensional arrangement of atoms that that forms 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:13.160 a pattern that can be repeated. The minimal size pattern 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:17.400 that's repeated is called the unit cell that is the 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:19.840 exact same shape. I just I can't. I'm gonna say 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:22.160 that five different times I think in this episode. So 0:04:22.200 --> 0:04:27.040 there's two okay, and um, oh hey sorry, I know 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:29.080 we've already gotten started, but do you mind if I 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:35.280 do a little plug here? Who I know it's yeah, sure, 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:39.360 Josh's Crystal Shop. So just real quick, everybody, jeez, this 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:42.480 is really poorly placed, isn't it. I think it's great. 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:47.400 We're not talking about Crystal, so it's good. Right, So 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:52.480 I wanted to plug. I'm gonna do some live shows chuck. Yeah. Um, 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:57.679 I'm going to be in Minneapolis at the Parkway Theater 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:03.640 on June eight, okay, okay, and then the next night 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:07.000 on June time supposed to be Yes, you are. I've 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:09.840 got a firm row seat reserve for you both, and 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:12.560 it's gonna I'm gonna have actually a cardboard cutout of 0:05:12.600 --> 0:05:15.320 you sitting there so everybody will know, they'll notice have 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:16.960 chucked in and show up, you know what I mean. 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:20.560 The next night, Um, you're going to have to travel 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:23.080 to d C. Because that's where I will be at 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:28.000 the Miracle Theater on June. And um, if people were 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:30.200 so inclined to buy tickets, they could go to the 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:33.000 the Parkway Theater dot com or the Miracle Theater dot 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:35.560 com and there's tickets there. And I assume this is 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:39.080 into the World material correct, Yeah, sorry, thanks for that. 0:05:39.120 --> 0:05:42.280 I'm so bad at this. Um the the It's the 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:44.839 End of the World Live. And whether you've seen the 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:47.160 Listen to the End of the World series by now 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:51.080 the podcast series and made um or not, you would 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:53.200 still get something out of This is gonna be a 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:55.320 pretty cool show because it kind of takes these seams 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:59.320 and expands on them and explores other other avenues, other 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:01.720 blind allies that I can't go down in the series. 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:05.640 I love it. Go everybody, go, go go. I appreciate that, 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:11.680 of course. So obviously we're talking about crystals again now, Yeah, so, uh, 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:15.240 crystals can be very small, like and we you know, 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:17.799 are a great snowflake episode is a pretty good example, 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:20.960 or they can be very big and the longer these 0:06:20.960 --> 0:06:24.720 crystals grow, the bigger they're gonna get and they're gonna 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:28.320 have fewer contaminants. Although as we will learn when we 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:31.640 talk about gemstones, those contaminants are where they get their 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:35.360 brilliant colors. Right, yeah, so you kind of want contaminants. 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:39.239 But most crystals, from from what I understand, are colorless, 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:43.880 Like most um uh, pure crystals are colorless. Pure just 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:48.440 don't say pure crystal. That's different. That's different things. So, um, 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:50.720 you hit upon something that I think is also worth 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:53.200 pointing out. Like usually when people think of crystals, again, 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:55.560 they're thinking of like that little five points hippie shop 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:58.760 kind of crystal, and you imagine it being formed in 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:02.599 like a cave or in some sort of fissure in 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:05.559 the earth or something like that somewhere inside the earth. 0:07:06.120 --> 0:07:09.200 But like you said, snowflakes they form above the earth, 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:13.000 Salt forms on the earth surface. These are all crystals. 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:15.440 So again, a crystal is not necessarily just a thing. 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:19.800 It's a it's a structure. It's a repeating pattern of 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:23.040 an arrangement of atoms that is a crystal. And one 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:26.480 way to remember this um or to really just kind 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:29.280 of have the the awe smacked into your your forehead 0:07:29.360 --> 0:07:34.720 chakra is carbon can be arranged in different ways, so 0:07:34.800 --> 0:07:38.920 the same the same molecule of carbon can be arranged 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:42.200 in a way, um that makes it graphite or makes 0:07:42.240 --> 0:07:46.840 it a diamond. So, chemically speaking, diamonds and graphites are 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:51.800 the exact same thing. Um. Crystallogically speaking, they are two 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:56.560 different things because they form two different crystalline structures. Right. 0:07:56.760 --> 0:07:59.360 And if you're confused by saying the words little five 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:02.720 points to time times, uh, we just assume everyone is 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:06.120 from our neighborhood in Atlanta. But that isn't an area 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.960 of Atlanta where you can find a drum circle or 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:13.000 buy a crystal or some parking stocks, or some high 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:19.640 quality incense, or pure crystal, or probably pure crystal in 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:23.960 the white corner. If there's a pretty good Halloween parade too. Yeah, 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:26.560 you know, it's great. It's it's remained fairly unchanged since 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:28.320 I was hanging out there in high school. It's it's 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:30.240 kind of kind of great in that way. I would 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:32.559 think just about every city has its own version of 0:08:32.600 --> 0:08:35.520 little five points, wouldn't you. Yeah, absolutely, I've been to 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:38.520 them in every city. Okay, so there you go. So 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:40.160 that's what we're talking about when we see a little 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:44.280 five points everybody. Yes, So, um, let's talk crystal, Let's 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:48.080 talk how how um like what an actual crystal is 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:50.839 made from or how it's made. I guess no, No, 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:54.800 I still can't come up with the word what makes 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:58.040 a crystal? Crystal? That's what I'm looking for, Yeah, because 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:00.560 it can get really confusing if you think about the 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:05.320 fact that crystals can be salt or snowflakes, or semiconductors 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:10.240 or in a computer display monitor or a television as 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:14.000 liquid crystal. It's and I know we've hammered this home, 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:18.040 but it's it's really all those things. Because crystals are 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:23.040 a formation, right, right, So you you take atoms of 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:27.360 a certain type of variety UM. Usually ions are a 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:34.520 big early like predecessor atom of um crystals ions, right, 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:38.079 they're either positively or negatively charged atoms as an ion, right, 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:41.000 so they've got an extra electron. They are missing an electron. 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:45.000 Something went horribly awry with their electrons and it converted 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:49.160 this atom into a charged atom. And those ions can 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:52.440 attract other ions, they can repel certain kinds of ions, 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:56.319 and they start to clump together in a certain way, 0:09:56.480 --> 0:10:00.960 and they will depending on the ion um or eventually 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:03.160 the atom. I don't think you have to have ions 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:05.360 to have crystals. I just think they're the most common 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:08.360 basic type of atom that you find in a crystal. 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:12.000 But depending on the type of ion or atom that 0:10:12.160 --> 0:10:16.520 starts setting off this um aggregation or attraction of other 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:19.640 atoms into a clump, it's going to start to form 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:24.120 a three dimensional model what I spoke about earlier, what 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:27.640 are called unit cells, and that little three dimensional model 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:31.920 is going to start attracting more atoms, and another three 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:35.000 dimensional model the exact same variety is going to be built. 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:38.440 And now you've just gone from a unit cell, the 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:43.040 most basic unit of the three dimensional shape of a crystal, 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:47.840 into the lattice, which is the build out of that 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:51.360 that unit upon unit upon unit upon unit that just 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:55.319 can keep going and going virtually and definitely. Yeah, it's 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:59.520 almost like they these ions are attracted and when they 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:01.760 get there or they see what's going on, what kind 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:04.400 of party they're having, and they're like that looks great 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:06.760 to me. Yep, Like I'm gonna jump in there, and 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:08.200 why would I want to mess it up by being 0:11:08.240 --> 0:11:11.840 any different? Yeah, I really feel like falling in line. 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:14.320 It's kind of a fastest piece of matter if you 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:18.319 think about it, a crystal. Yeah, And there were another 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:21.680 couple of decent descriptions um or metaphors, I guess in 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:25.000 this article in terms of long range order and short 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:27.680 range order. I thought that made a little bit of sense. 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:32.680 Um uh if if because crystals, like you said, can 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:35.960 it can be a single crystal, or it can be 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:41.080 a very large structure. And if it's a long range order, 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:45.000 they liken it to like a halftime band, all marching 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:50.520 in formation, like two people all together in synchronicity like that. Okay, 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:54.360 does that sound about right? Yeah? I just found that 0:11:54.640 --> 0:11:58.240 deeply confusing, but I got it now once you explained it, 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:01.480 I got it. Uh. Short range order, on the other hand, 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:05.079 they like into that marching band, scattering around into smaller 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:08.240 sub units, and this is more like liquid crystal like 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:11.040 you would find in a TV monitor. Yeah. And so 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:16.080 from the research that I saw this, short range crystals 0:12:16.080 --> 0:12:19.040 almost didn't even need to be mentioned in this UM 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:23.120 article because it has so few um it appears in 0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:26.559 so few places that really, when you're talking about crystals, 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:30.640 it almost by definition has to have long range structure. 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:33.360 I mean you usually think almost always of crystals is 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:38.000 solid manner right exactly, um with with basically short ranges, 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:42.040 just this crystalline structure, the unit cell forms over a 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:45.880 few atoms, and anything beyond that is long range, and 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:48.360 that's when you start to get into the money. Crystals, 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.800 I guess is what you call them. Yeah, you want 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:54.559 to take a break. Sure you're feeling okay so far? 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:57.319 I'm all right. Yeah, me too. Man, Uh, we will 0:12:57.360 --> 0:12:59.679 be right back, everybody. We're gonna go breathe into a 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:23.880 paper bag. Okay, we're back. We went through three paper bags. 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:30.680 It's so funny after eleven years, we still care enough 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.280 that we can feel like we're hanging on by our fingernails, 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:36.920 but we still pushed through and generally get it right. 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:41.600 I'm good with generally correct, right, Yeah, Um, most of 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:44.040 the time we get it right. There's there's that little 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:47.760 bit of impurity, and those impurities give the individual podcasts. 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:53.280 They're brilliant hues. That makes some jams very nice. So, um, 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:55.880 there's a little more to talk about about how crystals form. 0:13:56.040 --> 0:13:59.480 Right again, when we're talking about crystals, I guarantee you 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:02.240 the thing coming into your mind is an amethyst or 0:14:02.240 --> 0:14:05.280 maybe even you're you're savvy enough to know that precious 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:08.400 gems are also crystals, like sapphires or rubies or something 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:11.640 like that. Um, that's probably what's coming into your head 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:17.360 and what you're seeing there, what you're imagining this brilliant, beautiful, translucent, 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:22.720 uh perfect shape with a bunch of different facets that 0:14:22.760 --> 0:14:26.320 are on display. That is, that's a kind of crystal. 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:29.560 But what you're talking about is a kind of crystal 0:14:29.600 --> 0:14:32.920 that formed under ideal conditions. And those ideal conditions are 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:35.440 very rare, which is why gemstones tend to be pretty 0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:39.560 rare more often than not. What what you will see 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:42.360 in nature or you know, just on the ground, or 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.280 you know, in some kids backpack. I don't know, I'm 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:48.920 grasping at straws right now. Um are what are called 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:52.840 poly crystals where the conditions that the crystals formed under 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:54.640 and we'll talk about how crystals form in a second, 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:57.560 but the conditions that they formed under were not ideal, 0:14:57.920 --> 0:14:59.920 and there were a bunch of different kinds of ad 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:04.040 is present. And so rather than forming one beautiful single crystal, 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:08.560 because again, when you have this giant, beautiful tetrahedron of 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:12.680 amethyst in your hand, that is one that's considered one 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:16.240 single crystal, it's one giant crystal. If you have a 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:19.320 big rock with a bunch of like um, pyrite in 0:15:19.400 --> 0:15:22.920 it just kind of sparkling back at you. What you're 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:27.440 holding is a countless number of individual crystals that all 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:32.360 kind of grew together, and rather than forming one beautiful crystal, 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:36.080 they formed one big lump or mass, and it's still 0:15:36.120 --> 0:15:38.480 a bunch of crystals, and it's still as crystalline structure. 0:15:38.760 --> 0:15:42.080 It's just multiple crystals, and it's called a poly crystal, 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:44.840 and that's what you see much more frequently, because again, 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:49.800 conditions for crystals to grow under are infrequently ideal. Right, 0:15:49.960 --> 0:15:51.840 And this is where I step in and make the 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:54.600 one joke that I thought up during that which that 0:15:54.680 --> 0:16:00.920 Tetrahydron of Amethysts was the best Yes album. Yeah, let's 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:04.360 a good one. Yes, I have to say, Yes did 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:08.240 second to Iron Maiden and Beautiful album covers. They were 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:12.760 pretty good. They had great ones. Um So, polychress, contrary 0:16:12.800 --> 0:16:15.560 to what you might think or here or read, are 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:21.320 not stronger than single crystals because it's like, uh, I mean, 0:16:21.320 --> 0:16:23.240 it kind of makes sense. If you're assembling a model 0:16:23.320 --> 0:16:26.480 from a hundred pieces, it's probably not as strong as 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:29.360 something that's made from one thing because where they join, 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:32.280 it's gonna have weak points. That's a million percent right right, 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:35.200 Because again, if you if you realize that a beautiful 0:16:35.240 --> 0:16:38.880 giant crystal is just one solid piece, those all those 0:16:38.920 --> 0:16:41.560 little smaller crystals, they they're going to break apart much 0:16:41.560 --> 0:16:43.920 more easily because they have weak spots. They're not joined 0:16:43.920 --> 0:16:48.000 together with these amazing covalent or ionic bonds that are 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:51.680 holding that that single crystal together. So it makes sense 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:56.280 in that respect. So, um, let's talk about how crystals 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:58.200 are formed. Do you want to? There's really basically just 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:01.920 three ways that before and whether whether they're human made 0:17:02.000 --> 0:17:05.920 or made in nature, they basically come about three different ways. Yeah, 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:08.719 And um, I'm gonna skip out of order here because 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:11.119 for the kids out there, you can actually grow a 0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:15.280 crystal at home in pretty short order and it's pretty neat. 0:17:15.320 --> 0:17:17.280 So if you are a kid, or if you're a 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:20.320 parent with some kids, here's what one kind of fun 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:21.840 thing that you can do. And this is how to 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:25.240 make a crystal out of a solution, which is one 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:28.639 of the three ways. Uh, you can actually grow a 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:32.920 sodium chloride salt crystal in just a few days. It's 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:34.320 not the kind of thing you need to wait around 0:17:34.359 --> 0:17:37.440 like a year, four or millions of years. That's right. 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:41.040 So to do this, kids, you need get some whatever 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:42.400 kind of salt you can, but you can just get 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:47.159 regular sodium chloride, table salt, some distilled water, a glass, 0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:51.280 uh like bell jar, any kind of glass is great, um, 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:55.280 and then a spoon. You stir salt into boiling hot 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:58.680 water until no more of it will dissolve, and you're 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:01.080 gonna start to see some crystal start starting to appear 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:03.040 at the bottom of this thing. And make sure the 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:05.000 water is as close to boiling as you can get. 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:07.880 Then you're gonna pour that solution into that clear jar 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:11.479 and you put the spoon there is just to make 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:14.720 sure the jar doesn't break. That always helps, okay. Is 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:17.240 that we've got to do a short stuff on the 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:20.280 physics of that someday. Yeah, yeah, I remember that was 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:24.360 an old like uh waiting tables trick when you made 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:27.280 ice coffee, which is just when what we did was 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:29.560 just pour hot coffee and a big thing ice. Sure, 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:34.920 well this is pre hot coffee cold brew. Yeah. Um. 0:18:35.000 --> 0:18:37.639 So then you suspend a string, that string that I 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:40.080 told you about, uh into the jar from a spoon 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:42.000 and just laid across the top of the jar, so 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:45.920 it's hanging down in that solution and then just don't 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:47.840 touch it for a while and you will literally see 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:51.320 crystals forming on this string over the next few days. Yep, 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:53.840 it's really really cool. It is very cool. Um. I 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:56.160 saw another experiment you could do at home. It's got 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:59.159 a couple of extra steps, but you can make um 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:03.520 a beautiful kind a magenta colored crystal with um just 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:05.879 straight up album and a couple of things. You grow 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:09.919 a seed crystal and you use that you dangle it 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:12.119 like on a string, like you were saying, but it 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:15.480 actually grows more crystals up to it as well, So 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:17.520 you can grow the stuff at home. And both of 0:19:17.520 --> 0:19:22.480 those are crystal grown from solution and crystal grown from solution. 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:24.840 Is like you were just saying. You put in salt 0:19:24.920 --> 0:19:28.520 into hot water until you can't dissolve it anymore. That 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:32.360 means that the salt or the water has become saturated 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:36.880 with salt. No, it cannot hold any more salt, right, sorry, 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:39.960 t s. But that salt gotta go somewhere and it 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:44.320 will eventually be forced into a solid state, especially as 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:48.920 that liquid cools. Because water that's warmer or anything that's warmer, 0:19:49.200 --> 0:19:52.439 means that that the atoms and the molecules are further apart, 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:55.119 which means there's more space for salt. But as that 0:19:55.160 --> 0:19:58.440 water cools down, that space shrinks and that salt's gotta 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:02.040 go somewhere, so it turn into the solid state and 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:06.280 forms crystals. And it's that that happens with salt at 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:11.600 a relatively cool temperature at a relatively low pressure, you know, 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:15.640 basically sea level pressure on Earth. But that same thing 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:20.000 can happen under water and hydrothermal vents. It can happen 0:20:20.160 --> 0:20:24.240 with magma inside the mantle of the Earth. Um, there's 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:27.760 there's the ship. The conditions can change, so you have 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:31.560 different temperatures, different pressures, different types of atoms, and they'll 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:34.680 form under those different conditions, different kinds of things. But 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:38.280 crystals can form anywhere. They can form on the surface 0:20:38.280 --> 0:20:42.560 of the Earth again, in clouds and inside the Earth itself. Yeah, 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:44.520 And if you're going to grow from a solution like that, 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:47.680 like you do in your kitchen, you can produce crystals 0:20:47.760 --> 0:20:51.680 much much faster, and produce bigger crystals than you can 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:57.520 with a vapor deposition, which is you know, snowflakes, which 0:20:57.560 --> 0:20:59.680 we've talked about a lot on the show, which is 0:20:59.680 --> 0:21:03.800 basically so vapor depic is basically the same thing. Instead 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:09.360 of a liquid solution becoming super saturated, a gaseous solution 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:12.800 has become super saturated saturated and so that the water 0:21:12.920 --> 0:21:17.480 vapor can't the air can't hold anymore, so it pushes 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:21.400 it into a solid state and forms snow flakes. Yeah. 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:25.040 Then there's a third method, uh, from growth from melt, 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:28.840 which is really kind of interesting. And there's a few 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:31.879 different ways to do this too. Um. But basically what 0:21:31.920 --> 0:21:34.200 you're doing is you're cooling a gas until it's a 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:37.840 liquid and then chilling that liquid until it starts that 0:21:38.119 --> 0:21:42.080 you know, crystallization process. Uh. And there's there's a few ways. 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:46.879 There's one called crystal pulling or the here we go 0:21:47.240 --> 0:21:49.879 zakrawl Ski method. Yeah. And this is this is a 0:21:49.960 --> 0:21:52.919 human made method of creating crystals, right. Yeah. It was 0:21:53.040 --> 0:21:55.320 named from a Polish scientist by the name of Za 0:21:55.440 --> 0:22:00.399 karl Ski Kasimir funk Uh in nineteen fifteen. And this, 0:22:00.640 --> 0:22:03.920 you know, all of these involved actual machines and this 0:22:04.000 --> 0:22:06.200 you know when you hear about superconductors and stuff like that, 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:08.560 like this is these are man made things. Are human 0:22:08.600 --> 0:22:12.200 made things, uh, And methods and processes that people figured 0:22:12.240 --> 0:22:16.199 out a long long time ago, right, Crystal pulling is 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:19.840 pretty not so amazing. Did you see any videos on it? Yeah, 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:21.800 I watched some videos and looked at like some still 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:24.560 images of the machinery. It is pretty cool. So it's like, 0:22:24.600 --> 0:22:27.720 do you do that science experiment that I found where 0:22:27.760 --> 0:22:29.679 you created crystal and then you tie it to a 0:22:29.680 --> 0:22:32.600 fishing line. You basically just hang it over the solution. 0:22:33.240 --> 0:22:35.560 This is that's a very simple version of what they're 0:22:35.600 --> 0:22:39.119 doing with crystal pulling. You're using a seed crystal that 0:22:39.280 --> 0:22:43.040 is basically providing the structure for the solution below it. 0:22:43.520 --> 0:22:46.880 You you just touch that seed crystal just to the solution, 0:22:47.200 --> 0:22:51.920 and it basically sets off an attractive chain reaction that 0:22:52.000 --> 0:22:55.840 creates a crystal. So you slowly raise the crystal upward 0:22:56.480 --> 0:23:01.040 or that seed crystal upward, and the crystal follows it 0:23:01.119 --> 0:23:06.879 out of the solution. Essentially. Yes, it is. That's another 0:23:07.040 --> 0:23:10.600 reason why I love crystals. It's just the way that 0:23:10.640 --> 0:23:14.239 they form is so astounding ly awesome. And and with 0:23:14.280 --> 0:23:17.439 crystal pulling in particular, this is kind of an old technology. 0:23:17.480 --> 0:23:22.840 I think it's from the early nineteen hundreds when it 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:26.960 was first invented, and um since then, they've gotten so 0:23:27.000 --> 0:23:30.200 good at it, and it's so perfectly automated that they 0:23:30.280 --> 0:23:35.240 can calculate how fast the crystal forms went under crystal pulling, 0:23:35.440 --> 0:23:38.679 and so they will have the machine raise that seed 0:23:38.720 --> 0:23:42.520 crystal at the rate of crystal formation. And now they 0:23:42.520 --> 0:23:47.000 can get to places where they're forming um crystals that 0:23:47.160 --> 0:23:50.560 have like, uh, there are a foot around in diameter 0:23:51.400 --> 0:23:54.440 that that are just perfect, absolutely perfect crystals because also 0:23:54.720 --> 0:23:57.600 the solution that they're using that they're dipping that that 0:23:57.800 --> 0:24:01.600 seed crystal into has been purified, so it's the absolutely 0:24:01.680 --> 0:24:04.280 pure version of whatever you're trying to make a crystal 0:24:04.320 --> 0:24:07.560 out of. So, uh, say that you could make diamonds 0:24:07.560 --> 0:24:10.120 out of this, you could. You would have pure carbon 0:24:10.880 --> 0:24:13.800 in in a solution usually melted, and then you would 0:24:13.800 --> 0:24:17.000 have a diamond um dangling down as the seed and 0:24:17.040 --> 0:24:19.600 you would grow a seed diamond. That's not how you 0:24:19.600 --> 0:24:21.560 can make diamonds, but that's how they that's what they 0:24:21.600 --> 0:24:26.000 do with um silicon. Actually, yeah, and there's another method 0:24:26.320 --> 0:24:29.439 um from from with the you know, the melting method 0:24:29.600 --> 0:24:34.400