Sunday, September 21, 2014

What Are Crystals?


A crystal is a hard, solid substance made of molecules that bond together in specific patterns to form an interesting shape that has straight edges and flat surfaces. Not all crystals have the same shape, there are actually lots of different kinds of crystals, and each kind has its own special shape. Beautiful crystals are used for jewelry, like diamonds or emeralds. Crystals are often transparent, which means that you can see through them sort of like you can see through glass. Other kinds have beautiful colors.

What a crystal is made of actually depends on what kind of crystal it is - for example, salt and snowflakes are actually formed out of different kinds of crystals. Snowflakes are made from crystals formed by frozen water. Salt crystals are formed by some chemical elements which join together in a crystal shape. Crystals can be formed in several different ways. Most crystals are formed through evaporation. Some types of crystals are formed from melted rock in the earth: When the hot rock cools gradually, it will sometimes form crystals. Geodes are round rocks that are formed when bubbles are trapped in the melted rock. As the bubbles cool down, crystals grow inside of the bubble of rock.

As a crystal grows, the pattern that makes it a certain shape will be repeated over and over, so the crystal will always keep the same shape as it gets bigger. The chemical elements that a crystal is made of are what tell the crystal what shape it will be. A lot of crystals might seem to look alike, but what elements the crystal is made out of will make it a unique shape and color. Even the same element can make different crystals, based on conditions such as temperature and light and what other elements are around.


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