Crystals and Polarized light

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RobBerdan
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Crystals and Polarized light

#1 Post by RobBerdan » Mon Mar 11, 2019 4:32 pm

I have been experimenting with different drinks, beer and chemicals using polarized light and the technique produces amazing colors and patterns. The Microbe hunter owner provides a nice video on how to convert any microscope to a polarizing microscope for only a few dollars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQPPWXxCBX4
and he shows how to create Vitamin C crystals. Vitamin C can be purchased at many drug and health stores.

I am working on an article about polarizing microscopy and will post my results on my web site in a few weeks but below are a few photomicrographs I took with my Zeiss microscope using 2.5, 5, 10 and 20X objectives. All the photographs below are of Vitamin C. Caffeine and Citric acid also make nice crystals. I am also experimenting with different seeds, precipitants and solvents. I am attempting to get beer and drinks to crystallize - have read all Dr. Davidson's papers on crystallizing alcoholic drinks and starting to have some success with beer. Anyone that might have suggestions on how to get drinks to crystallize I would love to hear your suggestions.

Cheers
RB
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Hobbyst46
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Re: Crystals and Polarized light

#2 Post by Hobbyst46 » Mon Mar 11, 2019 5:28 pm

Very lovely photos!

geo_man
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Re: Crystals and Polarized light

#3 Post by geo_man » Mon Mar 11, 2019 5:48 pm

I'm on a mission to achieve results like this!! Thank you!

Bryan
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Re: Crystals and Polarized light

#4 Post by Bryan » Mon Mar 11, 2019 6:06 pm

Wow, great colors! I posted this on Beerenol crystals a while back. they don't produce a lot of color but the structure is interesting.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6883&hilit=beerenol

It's a film developer I came up with for black and white film.
This is the recipe:
Beer (I use cheap Lager, like Pabst Blue Ribbon but any beer will work) - 12oz
Sodium Carbonate (Arm & Hammer Washing Soda) - 2.75 Tsp
Ascorbic Acid Powder (Vitamin C) - 1.25 Tsp
Salt (Morton's Iodized Table Salt) - 1/4 Tsp

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RobBerdan
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Re: Crystals and Polarized light

#5 Post by RobBerdan » Mon Mar 11, 2019 6:52 pm

Thanks Bryan - I noticed you added table salt - it turns out that every alcoholic drink I add table salt do also crystallizes. So I tried NaOH no crystals. I tried NaCl (table salt) to, water, methanol, and ispropanol - no crystals suggesting it is the Cl ion that might be important or something in the drinks that reacts with it. I found a few science papers that show that NaCl increases the rate of crystallization to gypsum crystals and some other crystals. I am trying to get some Ammonium sulphate as it is used often as a precipitant in protein crystallization.

I am also going to try KCl to see if it also stimulates crystallization - it if does it would suggest the Cl ion is critical. I also tried several other substances and they did not work well e.g. PEG 400 polyethylene glycol. There is some interesting science going on - and its fun to experiment. Even a single hair can acts to nucleate and start crystal growth - I have some nice photos of this which I will present in an article on my web site in the future.

I will have a look at your links - thank you for your information.
RB
Last edited by RobBerdan on Mon Mar 11, 2019 6:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

MichaelG.
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Re: Crystals and Polarized light

#6 Post by MichaelG. » Mon Mar 11, 2019 6:53 pm

Beautiful work, Rob

MichaelG.
Too many 'projects'

Bryan
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Re: Crystals and Polarized light

#7 Post by Bryan » Mon Mar 11, 2019 8:26 pm

RobBerdan wrote:Thanks Bryan - I noticed you added table salt - it turns out that every alcoholic drink I add table salt do also crystallizes. So I tried NaOH no crystals. I tried NaCl (table salt) to, water, methanol, and ispropanol - no crystals suggesting it is the Cl ion that might be important or something in the drinks that reacts with it. I found a few science papers that show that NaCl increases the rate of crystallization to gypsum crystals and some other crystals. I am trying to get some Ammonium sulphate as it is used often as a precipitant in protein crystallization.

I am also going to try KCl to see if it also stimulates crystallization - it if does it would suggest the Cl ion is critical. I also tried several other substances and they did not work well e.g. PEG 400 polyethylene glycol. There is some interesting science going on - and its fun to experiment. Even a single hair can acts to nucleate and start crystal growth - I have some nice photos of this which I will present in an article on my web site in the future.

I will have a look at your links - thank you for your information.
RB
I look forward to see what you come up with. The reason I use salt in my recipe is because it acts as a restrainer or anti-fogging agent in the film development. Potassium Bromide does the same thing but table salt is easier to come by, I just have to use a bit more of it.

Hobbyst46
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Re: Crystals and Polarized light

#8 Post by Hobbyst46 » Mon Mar 11, 2019 8:43 pm

Note, sodium chloride and other chemicals that form cubic crystals themselves do not posses birefringence. When one sees colors, that means the crystals are not cubic (irrespective of their size).

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RobBerdan
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Re: Crystals and Polarized light

#9 Post by RobBerdan » Tue Mar 12, 2019 1:09 am

That is correct, however the sodium chloride induces crystals which can be seen and photographed easily with DIC. They are not birefringent, but
somehow stimulate crystal formation where they would not otherwise form.

Below these are Corona extra beer crystals formed in the presence of salt - otherwise I don't see any crystals and photographed with DIC microscopy. I will try KCl and some other agents but in control experiments I found no crystals when adding NaCl to methanol or Isopropyl alcohol or if I added NaOH and alcohol suggesting its not the sodium ion but the Cl ion that might be important. I will have to do some more experiments - will be interesting to see if KCl induces crystallization.

Cheers
RB
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