Crystals

From RationalWiki

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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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