Which condition did you change?
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.
Labs / Chemistry / Crystallization
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.
Why it matters
Why explore this?
Chemistry connects events too small to see with changes we can measure. This model helps you link particles, energy, and conditions to an observable result.
Explore
Try the model
Crystallized 0 %T 88°C
Investigate
Questions to test
Predict first, try it in the model, then use what you observe to answer.
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?
Explain
Make sense of what happened
Describe what happened at the particle or energy level, then connect it to the result you saw. A strong explanation names both the cause and the evidence.
Check
Before you leave
What happened to the particles or energy?
What observation supports your explanation?
If you can answer all three using evidence from the model, you understand the main idea. If not, return to Explore and change one setting at a time.