Junior+Science+-+Crystals

= = =Growing Crystals....= || =Hunting for Crystals...= Our world **FULL** of crystals. We **WRITE** with crystals, we EAT crystals, **DRINK** crystals Most of the crystals around you are so small that you never notice them. Some are so common, you'd never think they could be so fantastic! Crystals in the sugar pot || Crystals in the salt pot || Crystals in the ice-cream || Crystals in the jelly packet || Crystals in the sandpit || Crystals in the soap powder || . Crystals grow in perfect shapes. The shape they grow depends on what they are made of and how much space they have in which to grow. Not enough space makes squashed crystals! || It's easy to see which crystal shape our amethyst matches.... || =Grow your own.....= In nature it can take thousands or millions of years for rock crystals to grow. You can grow your own in a day! Here's how..... Here are all the things you need. You can buy Epsom Salts from the supermarket. || Poke a hole into the centre of the cardboard lid with a thick needle || Use a strong knot to tie some cotton onto the paperclip. The crystals grow ont the paperclip and get quite heavy. || Thread the cotton through the hole. The paperclip should hang about halfway down. || Use sticky tape to hold the cotton firmly in place. || =The Mixture:=
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 * PLAY** in sandpits full of crystals and **WASH** our clothes with crystals.
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 * I cup of boiling water
 * 1 1/2 cups of Epsom Salts

Stir the Epsom salts into the water until they have dissolved as much as possible. This watery mix is called **a saturated solution**. As the water cools, the crystals start to grow right in front of your eyes! (You can use sugar or plain salt instead, but sugar and salt crystals grow much more slowly) || Under the microscope..... || || =What happens....= The Epsom salts are made up of tiny bits called **atoms**. The atoms join together to make **molecules**. Atoms and molecules are like **building blocks**. They join together to make everything we see and touch, including crystals. The ** green **and ** blue ** balls are atoms. When they join up they make molecules.
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 * [[image:CubicStructureNaCl.jpg width="392" height="199"]] || ==A grain of salt....==

The balls show a molecule of plain salt. The salt molecules stack tidily together to build a crystal that we can actually see.

See how the shape of the salt molecule leads to the shape of the crystal of salt on the right? || When the Epsom Salt atoms and molecules dissolve in the boiling water they have **lots of room** to spread out. As the water **evaporates**, it **gets less**. The Epsom Salt atoms and molecules come **closer together** to make their **special pattern**. This pattern repeats itself over and over again to make a nice little cluster in the shape of a column.

A **mineral** is a solid which has a repeating pattern of atoms and can form crystals.
 * [[image:pyrite.jpg width="277" height="208"]] || =Minerals=

These are **iron pyrite** mineral crystals.

We have a specimen like this one in the Allen Centre. || A **geode** is a bubble-shaped rock which has a hollow inside, lined with crystals.
 * [[image:geode.jpg width="279" height="247"]] || =Geodes=

The geodes in the Allen Centre began as **bubbles in volcanic rocks**.

Over time the outside shell of the bubble hardened and water containing minerals formed on the inside walls of the hollow. As the water evaporated the crystals grew.

The most common mineral found in geodes is **quartz**. ||

=For Seniors....= Crystal Chemistry at **[|Crystal City]** || Go a little further ... visit **[|The UnMuseum]** ||
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