Thread: Anyone make Crystals? I need help.

Old, are you referring to this: "The solute particles contact each other and connect with each other. This subunit is larger than an individual particle, so more particles will contact and connect with it." ?

Our existence is limited by a number of physical laws. In chemistry, the most fundamentals of these laws is the law of conservation of mass . This law states that the mass of a closed system does not change. Obviously, this law is only valid in the classical sense (no quantum stuff). A crystal is a three-dimensional arrangement of atoms/ions/molecules that maximizes attractive interactions among its constituents. Such an arrangement confers stability to crystals. A good example is a pencil lead (graphite) and diamond. Same composition but different spatial arrangement lead to two completely different materials. So, to answer your question directly: No, you cannot create matter when you grow crystals.

Al raz.

I trust you're not growing meth, I was just curious as to what kind of crystals you were growing and for what purpose. I like to expand my knowledge about all the different kinds of jobs out there. However, if you're not comfortable talking about it, that's fine too.

Not that at all Quick, I just did not understand your question. You have to admit it was sort of subtle... ;-). I am a crystallographer and work on protein crystals for drug design, NOT! that kind of drugs ;-). I hope I answered your question this time, sorry about that ;-).

Al raz.

Actually, it would have taken you straight to Stockholm to receive a medal and $1.2 million (I believe). Unfortunately, not possible ;-). LOL

Al raz.

Originally Posted by Alraz

Not that at all Quick, I just did not understand your question. You have to admit it was sort of subtle... ;-). I am a crystallographer and work on protein crystals for drug design, NOT! that kind of drugs ;-). I hope I answered your question this time, sorry about that ;-).

Al raz.

Sorry, I can be a little subtle at times. That's really interesting though. I didn't realize proteins could be put in crystal form, or that they would somehow be helpful.

Originally Posted by Quick Orange

Sorry, I can be a little subtle at times. That's really interesting though. I didn't realize proteins could be put in crystal form, or that they would somehow be helpful.

Quick, no worries, I just did not understand what you wanted to know ;-). In fact proteins could be crystallized. This used to be EXTREMELY! hard but it is no longer so. The structure of proteins is used, not only to understand the biochemistry in which the protein is involved but also to design drugs that would inhibit or activate them at will. This is known as structure-based drug design and it is one of the ways in which new farmaceuticals are obtained. If you would like to read more about the field, this is a link with some "basic" information:

X-ray crystallography - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I am open to questions if you have any. Please bear in mind that it is hard sometimes to digest the knowledge and present it to the laypeople ;-). I also used to ride a nice Honda Elsinore ;-).

Al raz.