No functiona :-(

Up to now it does not work :-( Maybe I have to try a stronger bulb? If until tomorrow no crystals grow I will change the setup. In the future I also want to try a reversed temperature gradient, that means at the top of the  container is the hot side and at the bottom the cold side. This will require some changes of the interior of the container for depositing the source material in some way.

It goes on ...

I spent 15€ on a lamp and some bulbs. Setting up the temperature gradient... up to now it does not work. I will grow some seeds. I have the feeling, the convection is somehow not strong enough to reach a sufficient supersaturation for nucleation. I couldnot observe homogeneous nuclation so far...

T time

Check the pictures: On the ruler that's G5, T1 to 3 and Mr. Reference.
T4 is on the napkin and the best result so far. Unfortunately it got a crack after getting it out of the solution.
T4 is now with me in Bilbao as a lucky charm to support my master thesis. ;)

Well, right now I'm not growing a crystal. I plan to continue with the experiments after moving into a shared flat here in Bilbao.
Until then - keep growing ;)

Twins

I grew two crystals at the same time. I'm very satisfied with the results. :) I name them T2 and T3.
I changed the sample codes from G for gradient to T for transparent. The target now focuses on the crystal quality concerning transparency or inclusions.

Greetings from Bilbao

P.S.
G6 is T1 and was my first crystal with an acceptable transparency.

Bulb died...

Yesterday I came home and - the green 25W light bulb was dead. Well, she did a good job and worked for 1.5 months.
Right now I'm testing a 9W eco bulb, surface temperature is roughly 60 °C. The 25W bulb had more than 115 °C at the surface, but it also was much smaller.
Well, next week I'll be in Austria and I'd love to grow a nice crystal in that time, but I just don't have a nice bulb.

Fancy Exhibition

This glowing tetris set was a present for my birthday. Now it's used to present my results.

G5 is the one in the second row, it has a very nice shape - but it's totally not transparent.

G6 is growing very nicely. But - the strand pops out perpendicular to the octahedral (111) faces and - as I found out before - this leads to a distorted octahedron. However, looking forward to tomorrow because then I will stop the growth.

I'm preparing two seeds from two rather bad little crystals at a nylon strand. One seed seems to be oriented perfecly, i.e. [001] is parallel to the nylon strand. The shape is totally crap, so I'm dissolving as much as possible in little water drops. So hopefully G7 gives me the result I desire :-) 

P.S.:

I decided to continue this blog in English... because I don't know Arabic, yet.

G5 wächst

Der 5. Versuch mit Gradientenmethode, ich habe keinen Keim verwendet. Der Kristall wächst jetzt seit Dienstag, also ist heute Tag 4. Interessanterweise hat sich ein Stück Nylonfaden, das noch im Becken rumgeschwommen ist, an der Oberfläche angelegt und wird jetzt eingebaut. Ich bin gespannt, wie das in ein paar Tagen ausschaut. Ich möchte ihn noch ein paar Tage hängen lassen.

Eine wichtige Erfahrung: Wenn man Nylonfaden und Kristall zwischenzeitig rausnimmt, dann bietet es sich an vor dem Zurückhängen den Kristall und den Faden mit Wasser wenige Minuten zu waschen. Dann wächst er danach recht klar weiter und es wachsen keine Kristalle am Faden.