Crystals

These downloadable videos and animations are part of the multimedia package Stuff and Substance, developed by the Gatsby Science Enhancement Programme (SEP). They can be used to develop the idea that substances in the solid state usually consist of crystals, even though this is sometimes not obvious.

The first animation can be used to link the ordered arrangement of particles in the solid state to the characteristic features of crystals (flat surfaces and straight edges). Pure samples of substances in the solid state ought to be crystalline but lumps and powders often do not look that way. The second animation reveals powders (met previously in Stuff and Substance) to consist of crystals when viewed under magnification. The videos show the formation of crystals when liquid sulfur, lead and water solidify on cooling. Lumps of these substances consist of interlocking crystals.

These video and animation files form part of the resources in the section Crystals in the Stuff and Substance multimedia package, which provides a series of interactive pages that can be used by teachers or students in the classroom.

Please note: From 2021, Adobe has discontinued support for Flash player and as a result some interactive files may no longer be playable. As an alternative method to accessing these files a group of volunteers passionate about the preservation of internet history have created project Ruffle (https://ruffle.rs/). Ruffle is an entirely open source project that you can download and run many interactive Flash resources. For further information regarding STEM Learning’s policy for website content, please visit our terms and conditions page.