Crystals
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*Crystal, or lead crystal, is a form of fine glassware. | *Crystal, or lead crystal, is a form of fine glassware. | ||
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Revision as of 01:32, 28 July 2008
Crystals are highly ordered arrangements of atoms, ions or molecules into what can most succinctly be described as a "pretty rock".[1] They have many unique powers, including:
- The ability to crack into smaller shapes similar to their original shape
- The ability to conduct light, depending on how pure the crystal is
- The ability to grow by capturing material of the same chemical composition from a nearby, usually saturated solution
- In some crystals such as quartz, the ability to vibrate at a specific frequency when electrical energy is applied (the technique that powers quartz watches, among other oscillator-dependent devices)
- In crystals such as ruby, ability to amplify light for a laser by exciting atoms into a higher quantum state
- The ability to consolidate molecules into a metastable chunk [2]
- Crystals can be grown on a piece of string hanging from a saturated solution of, for instance, epsom salts. To the overstressed and impressionable these crystals might resemble a stalactite and be interpreted as refutation of the age of the earth[3].
- (with Iceland Spar) The ability to split time and space into two initially identical yet divergent paths[4]
- Holding the sum knowledge of the planet Krypton
- A seemingly preternatural ability to make people [5] assign all sorts of ludicrous powers to them.
Other uses
- Crystal meth is "the baaad stuff".
- Crystal is a (not very) common name among human females.
- Crystal, or lead crystal, is a form of fine glassware.