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.
  
==References and Notes==
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==References and notes==
  
 
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Revision as of 01:32, 28 July 2008

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There is a broader, perhaps slightly less biased, article on Wikipedia about Crystals
A man-made purdy rock (quartz).

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.

References and notes

  1. That's a technical term.
  2. Another technical term.
  3. a really OTT example
  4. Thomas Pynchon. What, you mean that you haven't read him?
  5. New Agers, mostly
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