What is polycrystalline water?

Рет қаралды 184,327

Күн бұрын

Episode 2 of my series on water ice! Admittedly this is probably the least interesting because it's some negative results, but it's not very scientific to only discuss successes right? In this video, I use a lens to melt ice from the inside out, exposing it's polycrystalline structure (and explain how it's different from a single crystal). With this partially-melted ice, I can do a bit of materials forensics, and actually figure out how it formed, hopefully so I can improve the process in the future!
Next video will be on vapor growth, and I'll say right now that it DOES work to grow centimeters-big faceted single crystals! Subscribe to make sure you see it!
CORRECTIONS:
[none yet!]
Other videos in this series:
The Sound of Freezing, Explained!
• The Sound of Freezing:...
The Sound of Freezing (Bonus Footage)
• The Sound of Freezing:...
What is polycrystalline water?
• What is polycrystallin...
Check out the other social media for updates and ramblings:
/ alphaphoenixchannel
/ alpha__phoenix
/ tryitagain
Interesting articles for the extra-curious:
J.M. Adams, W. Lewis, The Production of Large Single Crystals of Ice, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 5 (1934) 400-402. doi:10.1063/1.1751759.
T. Shichiri, Faceted ice crystals grown in water without air, J. Cryst. Growth. 187 (1998) 133-137. doi:10.1016/S0022-0248(97)00839-7.
P. Bisson, H. Groenzin, I.L. Barnett, M.J. Shultz, High yield, single crystal ice via the Bridgman method, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 87 (2016) 034103. doi:10.1063/1.4944481.
A. Cahoon, M. Maruyama, J.S. Wettlaufer, Growth-Melt Asymmetry in Crystals and Twelve-Sided Snowflakes, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 (2006) 255502. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.255502.
T. Gonda, The Growth of Small Ice Crystals in Gases of High and Low Pressures, C, J. Meteorol. Soc. Japan. Ser. II. 55 (1977) 142-146. doi:10.2151/jmsj1965.55.1_142.
Y. Furukawa, S. Kohata, Temperature dependence of the growth form of negative crystal in an ice single crystal and evaporation kinetics for its surfaces, J. Cryst. Growth. 129 (1993) 571-581. doi:10.1016/0022-0248(93)90493-G.
N.N. Khusnatdinov, V.F. Petrenko, Fast-growth technique for ice single crystals, J. Cryst. Growth. 163 (1996) 420-425. doi:10.1016/0022-0248(95)00980-9.
D. v. d. S. Roos, Rapid Production of Single Crystals of Ice, J. Glaciol. 14 (1975) 325-328. doi:10.3189/s0022143000021808.
Example of "single crystal casting" through a corkscrew shaped crucible for turbine blades 040b.synthasite.com/resources/...
#Materials #Physics #Crystals
Music and images in this video:
I Dunno by grapes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
ccmixter.org/files/grapes/16626
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgma...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowfla...

Пікірлер: 372

@happyundertaker6255 3 жыл бұрын

Hexagons are the bestagons.

@AlphaPhoenixChannel 3 жыл бұрын

Indeed. I saw that video a few weeks ago then proceeded to watch every main Gray video I could find...

@stefanheimersheim 3 жыл бұрын

Only outmatched by Hexaflexagons :-) [see Vihart's videos]

@awesomefeldmanfamily 3 жыл бұрын

@@stefanheimersheim ah yes, a classic

@raziasultana5222 2 жыл бұрын

Yes cgp grey makes the bestahexagons.

@Tepalus 2 жыл бұрын

200th like, take it or leave it :D

@leovalenzuela8368 2 жыл бұрын

"showing only the successes and not the failures isnt very scientific" subscribed on the spot.

@r0cketplumber Жыл бұрын

Plan A always goes up in flames.

@leovalenzuela8368 Жыл бұрын

@@r0cketplumber haha yes, very true

@xarin42 3 жыл бұрын

The failures really are important and interesting too. I wish more channels showed them.

@Laralinda 3 жыл бұрын

I wish more scientific researchers showed them too!

@ericlotze7724 3 жыл бұрын

@@Laralinda But replicating results, or having failed studies doesn't get you g r a n t s...

@battlesheep2552 2 жыл бұрын

In science, you only fail if you don't learn anything

@DreStyle 2 жыл бұрын

They are, you don't need to see what makes it good, but bad.. In that way it's easy to understand the process

@krumplethemal8831 Жыл бұрын

You mean like the Dude Perfect guys who lead their audience into believing they get the first attempt at a trick shot on the first try. When it probably took a hundred if not, more attempts but they always edit out the fails..

@fastedeverything8555 2 жыл бұрын

"this is ice" The crow in the background: "thanks captain obvious!"

@lootgodamn5721 2 жыл бұрын

" that is a loud bird "

@kasai7272 2 жыл бұрын

The timing was so good I thought it was editing at first

@ravenna6543 2 жыл бұрын

@@kasai7272 Same

@user-zn4pw5nk2v 2 жыл бұрын

"that's a loud bird", no it's either a crow or a raven,the humble loudbird died when we stopped naming animals by description.

@koniginator 2 жыл бұрын

The anteater begs to differ

@nomsterdude 2 жыл бұрын

😔

@nomsterdude 2 жыл бұрын

@@koniginator The anteaters just built different

@miss-sagemoon 2 жыл бұрын

does this mean big bird is an endangered species?

@user-zn4pw5nk2v 2 жыл бұрын

@@miss-sagemoon yes! (That was a joke, as is this)

@Trooopetre 3 жыл бұрын

Watching this video my brain was screaming about using vapor deposition. Living somewhere it is currently negative 25C, I have massive crystals like that growing on every vent of the house.

@bdf2718 2 жыл бұрын

Sounds almost like molecular beam epitaxy. I wonder where we can find somebody who knows about that.

@Jeremyak 2 ай бұрын

I know it's getting cold where I live when I get frost developing on every screw and nail head that leads to an exterior wall. And one of the most beautiful sights you'll ever see is the massive hoar frost crystals that grow during a particularly long cold snap. 🌨

@pyromen321 3 жыл бұрын

Awesome video! Seeing the actual grain boundaries in ice was really cool! I’m excited to see your vapor deposition process!

@kleinesfilmroellchen 2 жыл бұрын

A long time ago I made a presentation about crystalline symmetry and taxonomy. And even though I forgot everything, I still jump out in joy every time I read something like the P6cm or m3m (I hope that's a thing).

@samykamkar 3 жыл бұрын

Super cool video! Thanks for sharing.

@Jakub1989YTb 3 жыл бұрын

Supercooled video!

@AlphaPhoenixChannel 3 жыл бұрын

Ba dum tss

@sophiegrey9576 2 жыл бұрын

"This is ice" finally, something I can understand

@themightyripples6582 2 жыл бұрын

You're quickly becoming my favourite YT scientist. Thank you for your work.

@fizzyplazmuh9024 2 жыл бұрын

Ooh! I have used a modified Bridgman technique to grow large naphtha crystals before. My family HATES mothballs now.🤮 I like to play with scintillators and particle detectors. Your explanations are so clear that you are filling a few of my gaps in crystalline ordering and thermal transfer and I am sure other things by the time I make it through all your videos. I once sat in prison for 15 years so I ordered and consumed books like "Geochemical Kinetics" and Pauling's "General Chemistry". They opened my eyes and mind more than highschool ever did. I get tingles up my spine when I get an idea that lets me apply this type of knowledge. I am an applied science junkie.

@SimulatingPhysics 3 жыл бұрын

Hi! I came from the Physics subreddit. I really liked your demonstrations. What is the size of the grains showed at 4:48? I mean, how much zoom is the photo?

@AlphaPhoenixChannel 3 жыл бұрын

most of the columnar grains from the zoom-in are on the order of 1-5 mm across. I was using the kit 50mm sony lens with a macro tube for a bit closer focus. At the edges of the "boule" there are some large grains, like one entire side that was pushed against the edge of the container was a grain, but it wasn't very thick, and as you get closer to the middle it gets messier. The edges probably nucleated by themselves early and some of them got big before colliding

@SimulatingPhysics 3 жыл бұрын

@@AlphaPhoenixChannel Thank you for the detailed answer!

@Jeremyak 2 ай бұрын

I really appreciate this channel, it seems somehow more genuine than a lot of the over-produced "I heckin love science" content out there.

@hasanhas00n1 2 жыл бұрын

As a material science graduate thank you for simplifying polycrystalline and single crystal in a way normal people can understand.

@peteoconnor6388 3 жыл бұрын

Came over from Steve Moulds channel and I'm so glad I did!

@IanGrams 3 жыл бұрын

I've always wanted to learn more about material science, thank you for sharing your knowledge of it! I've been hooked ever since that amazing bubble demo. Also thank you for sharing the things that didn't work. Totally agree that's an important part of science.

@AlphaPhoenixChannel 3 жыл бұрын

It's a fantastic field at the intersection of so many others!

@IanGrams 3 жыл бұрын

@@AlphaPhoenixChannel much agreed! I'm especially interested in all the cool stuff going on with 2d materials like magic angle graphene and this work I saw back in October: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201012115949.htm The TL;DR is that by stacking a monolayer 1 degree twisted from a bilayer and supercooling, an applied electric field could switch between it behaving like twisted bilayer graphene or twisted double bilayer graphene. And in the latter case it exhibited electrically tunable ferromagnetism 🤯 If you're ever trying to think of a video topic, definitely would be interested in something on graphene or other 2d materials.

@thefipster 2 жыл бұрын

KZfaq is weird. My first thought was: Cool a new science channel that is actually interesting... let's check the videos.... wait this channel is already seven years old.... why did youtube hide this from me for all these years... at least now I can binge watch everything. Very informative channel with clear explanations, thank you sir, I will stick around!

@Justus_Patrick 2 жыл бұрын

i just saw your "plan a" quote. That's so inspirational because its so true. Don't quit after your first failure, your first plan is supposed to fail.

@TheJunky228 3 жыл бұрын

I almost want to share this vid with my materials sciences professor! lol thanks for the extra articles and some great visualizations and explanations ^_^

@AlphaPhoenixChannel 3 жыл бұрын

Haha please do! Glad you liked it!

@RTR-py8wg 3 жыл бұрын

This channel needs more views! I love learning from this channel!

@joshhickman77 3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I'm always surprised that ice is a good thermal insulator, but I guess the igloo idea is pretty solid. The aluminium idea was really good though.

@AlphaPhoenixChannel 3 жыл бұрын

Yeah - it surprised me too. One sentence that got cut from this video also pointed out that the seed crystal was oriented with the C axis up and down, meaning that all of the heat to freeze had to go through the slowest direction

@MarcusLucena2010 2 жыл бұрын

i was mesmerized throughout the whole video, incredible work man!

@heinzehrhart7142 2 жыл бұрын

I saw your gerrymandering video first and thought okay that's kind of cool and now I'm bringing this channel. There are so many videos alone about f... Ice but every video still gives new info.

@SWATforseen 2 жыл бұрын

love your videos please don't never stop sharing and passing on really amazing knowledge an hard work that you put into this I hope and continue to see your videos shine and progress!!

@SpiritOfHugs 2 жыл бұрын

If the subjects weren't incredibly interesting, I probably would still watch your videos just because of your energy. It's so fun listening to people that are truly passionate about something. You're cool.

@ericlotze7724 3 жыл бұрын

Just discovered this channel ! I didn't know any of the "odd ice-es" were possible at home/makerspace scale, neat to see all this !

@klausnielsen1537 2 жыл бұрын

Looking forward to that vapor deposition video. Great video and great explanations. TY 👍

@ethanfisher7330 3 жыл бұрын

Hey, I recently found your channel and I love the content you are making! I am thinking of going to graduate school for material science so seeing the experiments you do with crystal growth and grain structures is really inspiring. I am excited to see the next video, and in the meantime I am going to look into the Bridgman method and other ways to control crystal growth.

@AlphaPhoenixChannel 3 жыл бұрын

Awesome! MatSci is an amazing field at the intersection of so many others. What are you studying in undergrad? The Bridgman method is how most of our substrates are grown - they make a big cylindrical boule of something like Gallium Arsenide, then slice it into thin round wavers we can grow on. To be specific, I think they use a "horizontal Bridgman" technique, and I don't know what their growth rates are - certainly a WHOLE lot faster than our MBE growth rates!

@ethanfisher7330 3 жыл бұрын

@@AlphaPhoenixChannel I studied mechanical engineering in undergrad and it wasn't until this last year that I realized I wanted to continue learning about the atomic properties of materials. When I learned that the reason metals have elastic deformation is because the atoms are literally stretching the bonds before they slip and plastically deform, my mind was blown! I've always thought the way metal boules are cast is fascinating. The level of purity we are able to achieve nowadays is incredible!

@ericlotze7724 3 жыл бұрын

One crystal related project area: Doing the same process of crystal growing + refining that is used for silicon or similar materials, but with sugar or something easier. So the "Molten Drawing" and "Float Zone Refining and all that. (Granted i just read some wikipedia pages! So all those terms may be wrong idk)

@ericlotze7724 3 жыл бұрын

Essentially those "Sugar Growing Projects" in elementary school science fair, but cranked up to 11, and used to teach modern crystal growth techniques, instead of "crystals are a thing".

@adamlevesque3090 2 жыл бұрын

in polarized light one can easily see the grains

@ravenna6543 2 жыл бұрын

That bird saying "No shit sherlock" at the beginning was such perfect timing. LMAO

@br6768 2 жыл бұрын

This is a cool channel im so excited to sift thru the videos. I haven't been this excited since I found Applied Science channel like 3 years ago

@TheBookDoctor 3 жыл бұрын

Hey, you're on the cusp of 2^14 subscribers! Awesome!

@AlphaPhoenixChannel 3 жыл бұрын

haha yeah I'm going to be a bit late on that video this time around

@7177YT 2 жыл бұрын

You got a pretty brilliant channel here mate! Subscribed!

@xenofurmi 2 жыл бұрын

This video is so good x10. The Material Science education is so on point.

@carlosreyes1278 Жыл бұрын

Excellent, excellent video!! I thoroughly enjoyed it!! You've got a new subscriber!!

@Physicist981 3 жыл бұрын

Great video mate really informative! Subscribed

@maeday8839 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing your process! I love seeing the fantastic and amazing things that can happen in this world but I also love seeing the 'failures' (any time when an outcome is different from a prediction) because that's where we get to discover something we didn't know before and expand our knowledge of the world. Achieving the goal is like chocolate sauce and the stuff you learn along the way is the ice-cream. Ice cream on its own is alright, but chocolate sauce on its own isn't that great. So thanks for giving us the ice cream!

@KamilK3 Жыл бұрын

Well thats awesome, that bubble demonstration and dislocations. The same applies to steel! I did know that, but thats a great way to visualize that, and that explains different properties of welds epending how hot it was and how quick it was cooled. Great channel! I'm happy i got here, you have a new sub ;)

@Blargthehandsome 2 жыл бұрын

hey, I think your channel will blow up, keep up the good work!

@KOWspazed 3 жыл бұрын

A few TECs on a container and a bigger one on the aluminum bar would allow you to grow the crystal without needing to be in the freezer. You could also very easily monitor and control the temperature.

@muntyvalera998 3 жыл бұрын

Wow such an awesome video bud, how have you not got more subscribers, I cant wait to see the video where it worked,

@bytesandbikes 3 жыл бұрын

Great to see the process! Thanks

@AlphaPhoenixChannel 3 жыл бұрын

SCIENCE!

@trevorkohan505 Жыл бұрын

I really like this guys stuff

@MrMcCoyD4 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for a great video! Looking forward to the vapor one :)

@AlphaPhoenixChannel 3 жыл бұрын

me too... trying to get one more timelapse...

@woosix7735 3 жыл бұрын

Nice! Exited for the next one

@999bmxbandit 3 жыл бұрын

Found you from Steve Mould. Great channel, great science, great speaking skills. I’ll definitely be back.

@AlphaPhoenixChannel 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Glad you found here!

@fmdj Жыл бұрын

Awesome counter-example of publication bias, thanks! Always interesting.

@autodidact7127 2 жыл бұрын

God dude you are just so intelligent. I will learn so much from you in the coming years. Subbed.

@jacobhinchliffe6659 2 жыл бұрын

Milo

@TheNormalUniverse 3 жыл бұрын

beautiful video! That was super fun

@Pscribbled 2 жыл бұрын

Have you tried growing monocrystalized ice by growing icicles in a controlled setting? I found some papers that some icicles are single crystals

@scottwilliams895 2 жыл бұрын

I have two degrees in materials science, and was impressed by your video! Keep up the great work, and I'll keep watching

@scottwilliams895 2 жыл бұрын

Now I'm just watching through a bunch of your videos, and I realize you degree is also in materials. That explains why you're so good at explaining it! Cheers, MatE!

@MalcolmCooks 2 жыл бұрын

dude why am I only just finding your channel, these videos are really interesting, informative, and the production value and editing is off the charts

@SoulDelSol 2 жыл бұрын

Same

@tophan5146 2 жыл бұрын

I love the hand-drawn animations

@TheZombieSaints Жыл бұрын

Wow who knew ice was so complicated... Great video

@MrCofet 3 жыл бұрын

Excellent video

@emilyrln Жыл бұрын

Very interesting! Ice crystals are so pretty ❤

@jimdelsol1941 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the video !

@6754bettkitty 3 жыл бұрын

Crystals are fascinating!

@AlphaPhoenixChannel 3 жыл бұрын

So much!

@Ziraya0 Жыл бұрын

A long time ago I saw a tv show, maybe how it's made, where they covered how blocks of clear ice are made for ice carving. The process is simple, get a big ole vat of water, make it cold, and move the water constantly with a pump. The main goal of this is that it takes more energy to form a crystal with contaminants, so with the temperature held at about 0C, and the water always moving, it's too hard for contaminants to freeze into the crystal, and it's too hard for voids to form. Only good pure water can join the crystal, and it does so evenly. This method may be able to increase the margin of error with your technique even as the water cools off, by lowering the temperature of spontaneous crystallization just a little bit further below the temperature of monocrystaline growth. I imagine though that it will also make the tank more efficient at conducting the heat in the water to the walls, making it cool off faster.

@miklov 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for sharing, looking forward to, well, let's be honest, not only the pending video ^^. Keep up the good work!

@Some_Awe 2 жыл бұрын

This is the stuff i needed with chemistry, i had a hard time thinking of it as a seperate subject from physics, but its just physics all the way down

@SoulDelSol 2 жыл бұрын

Yess, physics is at root of chemistry and chemistry is at root of biology

@jianshen2223 2 жыл бұрын

This is pretty interesting. Will be great to see if you succeed

@CaskStrength777 2 жыл бұрын

I found the shaped container idea intriguing.

@sciencoking 2 жыл бұрын

I collect rain water in barrels in my backyard. When the temperature is just right, the water forms a thick ice sheet which crumbles into long approximately hexagonal prisms

@JanBabiuchHall 2 жыл бұрын

Maybe try adapting the Czochralski method. It's used for growing silicon crystals for semiconductors and also uses a seed crystal lowered from the top. The difference (in addition to what you mentioned about temperature control) is rotating the crystal / bath, which I sus suspect helps prevent dendrites.

@falpsdsqglthnsac 2 жыл бұрын

"that's a loud bird" this is the educational content i come to this channel for

@yallprettysus Жыл бұрын

The Awesome science rabbit whole won't end! Off to 2^19 Subs with you

@coffeecup1196 2 жыл бұрын

Could you supercool the water without freezing it, then introduce a single-crystal seed? Kinda like how you can put a bottle of water in the freezer and every now and then it will stay as metastable liquid below the freezing point.

@AJR2208 3 жыл бұрын

Happy Belated New Year. This is a really interesting subject. (so many question)..Are you doing this to experiment with gas separation techniques? Water purity and controlled temperature reduction? Using capillary tubes for crystal growth? I had the honor to speak with people years ago looking into purifying medical & breathing gases in a similar way. Stay safe and well :)

@jeanpafy 3 жыл бұрын

I love your videos!

@AlphaPhoenixChannel 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

@jakeh799 2 жыл бұрын

10:46 for like 20 secs I did not understand a word he said but just the way he speaks with the Pauses and tone for some reason I feel like I understand him.

@anothrto1045 2 жыл бұрын

A must for ice sculptors

@X_Potato 2 жыл бұрын

I feel like this channel will blow up soon.

@jazzdirt 2 жыл бұрын

This is the same I learned in the first year of Material Science engineering... But accessible and fun!

@truegret7778 2 жыл бұрын

As I recall, single-crystalline silcon ingot growers rotate the seed in one direction (say clockwise) and the molten silcon in the cricible anti-clockwise, and slowly pull the seed upward at a rate that defines the diameter of the ingot. Could the same be done with the water "seed" and chilled water "ingot"?

@JohnTrustworthy 2 жыл бұрын

I don't know about others but seeing experiment failiures and explanations for them is more interesting.

@noorahmadshinwari4053 2 жыл бұрын

When you pipetted water on to the seed crystal on the aluminum block, some of the water was in direct contact with the aluminum.(it was not all on your seed crystal) That could be how you ended up getting new crystals.

@ericlotze7724 3 жыл бұрын

If you did something similar to that "Supercooled Water" or a v e r y close thermal gap between the water and air, could you pull/draw an ice crystal from water?

@jessicamann684 2 жыл бұрын

to make large blocks of clear ice for ice carving, they use a technique involving bubbling air through water while it is in a giant chest freezer.

@adcaptandumvulgus4252 2 жыл бұрын

Do you think if you use the silver plating on the aluminum the extra degrees of temperature that would drop would make a difference?

@Q269 2 жыл бұрын

12:00 best reason ever to upload a video

@malx1289 2 жыл бұрын

Could you use constructive interference between two lazers focused at a point in the ice

@FUKTxProductions Жыл бұрын

id suggest electrobooms favorite cooling method: peltier electrothermal displacement. they're basically these square pads that, when current is passed through them, go cold on one side and hot on the other. i know that by controlling how much current passes, you can control how hot/cold each side gets. just an idea. let me know if you try it, id like to see the end results!

@telperion3 3 жыл бұрын

what about adding a peltier cell coupled with a heatsink on the top of the aluminum bar, in room temperature?

@AlphaPhoenixChannel 3 жыл бұрын

wait a couple weeks =)

@labboc 3 жыл бұрын

In the video you mention that ice conducts heat anisotropically. Would the seed crystal conduct better if rotated?

@je_tai6276 2 жыл бұрын

Do you think the convections movements in the water could create dentrites? Some convection cells would appear and cool the whole water recipient and then, because the thermal isolation with the outside is not perfect, some dentrites could have been created somewhere else. I would suggest to try the same experiment but with the aluminum bar at the bottom of the recipient. Might be a very tricky setup though...

@chewmonkey89 2 жыл бұрын

Would it be possible to change the atmospheric pressure (on one side) of the water to 'change' the freezingpoint helping forming hexagon?

@ShadowHoper 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for your videos! Always a treat.

@AlphaPhoenixChannel 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Glad you like them!

@8ank3r Жыл бұрын

did you consider dipping sort of in the manner of candle making?

@brocksamson3282 2 жыл бұрын

along with wrapping your ice chamber in foam and a towel, add an electric blanket (very low wattage) so the outer parts don't freeze inward. That way, the "coldness" is only coming from the crystal you want to form.

@tootalldan5702 3 жыл бұрын

Nice process. Instead of a magnifier glass, why not use the 3 laser method on each axis to melt the center of the ice. Similar to the acrylic bubble art. As you also mentioned, the pressure change as it is freezing would affect growth. Would a counterweight of the aluminum block also allow equalizing the pressure at the freezing point in the chamber to equalize the surface pressure of the water? I look forward to the next video.

@atomatopia1 2 жыл бұрын

Might be a cool idea to explore using a ThermoElectric Cooler (TEC) connected to a liquid cooled heat sink . That way you can literally control the flow of energy out of the freezing water

@AlphaPhoenixChannel 2 жыл бұрын

Haha check out episode 3

@atomatopia1 2 жыл бұрын

@@AlphaPhoenixChannel oh sick I’ll do that rn. Right after episode 2, of course!

@AlphaPhoenixChannel 2 жыл бұрын

@@atomatopia1 haha this was 2. 1 is the found of freezing. I don’t remember if I bothered to make a playlist at the time…

@Indie9999 2 жыл бұрын

Well, what about when you supercool water in the freezer and you get that "shake the bottle and it all freezes" effect. What if you made some supercooled water and dropped one of these unicrystals into it? Would it just seed the growth of a solid block of one crystal?

@themightyripples6582 2 жыл бұрын

Could you use semi-randomly directed short blasts of high energy, then witness a very small hexagon within a dendritic region? Just curious...

@TiagoTiagoT 2 жыл бұрын

Does the orientation of the ice crystals affect light polarization?

@awesomefeldmanfamily 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you

@Scrogan 3 жыл бұрын

I’d attempt to do exactly what you did here, except with a peltier cooler and heat-sink atop the aluminium block, and in a refrigerator set to 1-3C or so. Also you’re fast approaching 2^14 !

@Scrogan 3 жыл бұрын

A small compressor might also be an option, if only for the thermal efficiency. An easier method might be an aluminium (bottomed) container full of salted ice-water, though you’d need to calculate how much ice would be required to solidify the water beneath.

@jfischer507 2 жыл бұрын

Can the water be held still in the refrigerator, at 2-3C, instead of the freezer? Maybe alcohol could be pumped through the heat sink below 0C to encourage crystal growth and discourage dendritic growth. Then you can go really slow.