• Question: What is the main idea of crystallisation?

    Asked by anon-185583 to William, Rebecca, Martyna, Callum, Adam, Alice on 6 Nov 2018. This question was also asked by anon-185776.
    • Photo: Callum McHugh

      Callum McHugh answered on 6 Nov 2018:

      For me, I want to be able to make crystals of materials in a controlled and reproducible way that will allow me to choose them to perform different functions.

      Crystallization happens when molecules/compounds form a pure solid in a very ordered way. This can be if they precipitate from solution or condense from a vapour

    • Photo: Rebecca Roddan

      Rebecca Roddan answered on 7 Nov 2018:

      Crystallisation is basically trying to get something to precipitate (crash out of solution) so that it precipitates with all the molecules ordered in regular way.

      You can do this with a salt and water solution. Mix salt and water (make the solution really concentrated with salt) and then let the water evaporate with time by leaving a lid off the solution. Eventually, as there is less and less water as it evaporates, all the salt is no longer able to dissolve in the water so will precipitate out and hopefully form a crystal. Using copper sulphate is a really nice way of doing this and you can buy kits for it. (Just search for a crystal growing kit)

    • Photo: Adam Berlie

      Adam Berlie answered on 7 Nov 2018:

      As Callum has pointed out, crystallisation allows someone to make a crystal – an ordered array of molecules where everything is stacked together nicely. Crystals don’t have to be very large and can be quite small, around a few millimetres in size! By making crystals we can study thier properties and it is also a way of making sure things are pure, so don’t contain any unwanted materials. In fact, you’ve probably made crystals youself since the transition from lqiuid to a solid is also a form of crystalisation. Go look in your freezer and see if you have any ice cubes!

    • Photo: Martyna Pastok

      Martyna Pastok answered on 8 Nov 2018:

      As Guys said earlier the idea of crystallisation is to produce a crystal. Crystal is build of millions of molecules which you wan to study which are packed in a very ordered way. It is like you have a house build of the same bricks and this is your crystal and a single molecule building this crystal is a single brick:) Having a crystal would allow you visualisation of a molecule which builds this crystal.

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