Crystals: Wonders of Nature

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Recommended: The role of computer in future technology

In the future, people will have lightning fast computers and a new kind of phone. All of their new electronics will have crystals in their construction somewhere. From microchips with super-storage or photon-processing crystals, crystals will be everywhere. And they already are. Crystals are used in color changing paint and even in the touch screen of smartphones. Many famous scientists are researching crystals and how they could be used. Crystals are natural wonders of nature that are built in complicating and amazing structures that have the potential to be used everywhere.
“[Crystals are a] homogeneous portion of matter that has a definite, orderly structure, and an outward form bounded by smooth, plane surfaces, symmetrically arranged” (Funk 1). Crystals grow by connecting other molecules to a plane surface. This happens thousands of times until the crystal is big enough to be seen with the naked eye, like this picture of an isometric formation. Then it keeps on growing.

Picture more of those cubes stacking up on each other until it is much bigger, until it is a cube made out of tiny cubes. That is an example of salt. Crystals can form in a cup of water or deep in a fissure inside the earth. Crystals can even be made at home!
Crystals can be made out of many things. Metal, food, and minerals are just a few examples. Salt is a crystal, and so is sugar. Many types of rocks are crystalline. Visible crystals depend on how fast the object cools. If it cools too quickly, there are no large crystals. Larger crystals require slow cooling. According to Funk and Wagnall’s New Word Encyclopedia, “Still slower cooling results in a rock of porphyritic structure, in which some of the crystals are large enough to be visi...

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...sed in the future. Scientists have been studying crystals for centuries, and they will for the rest of time.

Works Cited
Amato, Ivan. "Solutions to Crystal-Growth Mysteries." Science News 138.8 (1990): 116. Middle Search Plus. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
Coffey, Rebecca. "20Things You Didn't Know About Crystals." Discover 32.4 (2011): 1. Middle Search Plus. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
"Crystal." Funk and Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. EBSCO, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
Gibbs, Samuel. "Sapphire Crystal Screens: Why Apple Is Interested in a Gemstone." Theguardian. N.p., 10 Feb. 2014. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.
Ryan, Joe. "Brookhaven Lab Scientists View Tiny Crystals." Newsday [Melvile, New York] 14 July 2012: n. pag. Print.
"Winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry Revolutionized Study of Crystals." Christian Science Monitor (2011): 1. Middle Search Plus. Web. 14 Feb. 2014.

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