Dear Friends!
A crystal is a type of solid .All solids are made up of atoms that are packed tightly together . In some solids the atoms are locked together in no special order, but the atoms in crystals make a special three dimensional pattern . This pattern can be squares, triangles, hexagones( six sided forms) or other shapes with coners, as long as the whole solid is made up of the same repeated pattern . Water atoms lock into hexagonal crystal patterns to form ice . To get a closer look at the corners and flat sides of a crystal, view a single grain of salt, sand or sugar under a magnifying glass . Theseare single crystals .
HANDS ON:
SEEING CRYSTALS l illustrate water turning to ice with paperclips . If you lay them on a table in a pile . Imagine the pile represens water in liquid form and the paper clips are the water molecules TAKE THE PAPER CLIPS AND TURN THEM INTO ICE CRYSTALS BY MAKING HEXAGONES . mAKE SURE THAT ALL OF THE HEXAGONES ARE RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER .
This illustrates water in the form of a solid. Notice how spread out the molecules are and how much space they take up . The same number of molecules( Paper Clips) are present and still touching, but they are now locked into this crystaline form.
