Labs / Chemistry
Crystallization
The beaker starts hot, with particles dissolved and darting around freely. Slide the temperature down and the solution becomes supersaturated — particles begin sticking to the seed and stacking into a neat lattice. Warm it back up and the crystal dissolves again.
Crystallized 0 %T 88°C
What to try
- How cold does it have to get before the very first particles start sticking to the seed?
- If you cool it slowly versus dropping straight to the ice bath, does the crystal end up the same shape?
- What fraction stays dissolved even in the ice bath — can you ever crystallize every last particle?
- Reheat a large crystal. Which parts dissolve first, the outer edges or the seed at the center?
- Drag to stir while it's crystallizing. Does stirring speed the crystal's growth or slow it down?