Let the bowl sit undisturbed in a safe place for seventy-two hours. What Happens Fluffy, fragile crystals form on top of the charcoal, and some climb up the sides of the bowl. To keep the crystals growing, add another batch of ammonia, salt, bluing, and water. As the ammonia speeds up the evaporation of the water, the blue ion particles in the bluing and the salt get carried up into the porous charcoal, where the salt crystallizes around the blue particles as nuclei. These crystals are porous, like a sponge, and the liquid below continues to move into the openings and evaporate, leaving layers of crystals.
All solids have an orderly pattern of atoms, which is repeated again and again.
This orderly pattern, called crystallinity, can be seen in simple crystals because their shapes reveal their particular atomic structure to the naked eye. Some New Age enthusiasts believe that wearing a crystalusually an amethyst, rose quartz, or clear quartzaround the neck attracts good vibrations and can be used to better arrange a persons spiritual and physical energies. There is no scientific evidence to support this superstition. Crystals grow by attracting the atoms of similar compounds, which join together in an orderly pattern. Impure atoms can invade the atomic structure of the crystal and create mixed crystals of dazzling hues.