Crystals with Polarized Light and DIC

[Robert Berdan]

I am working on an article for my web site on photographing crystals with polarized light and a microscope - something easy for anyone with a microscope to do. One of the challenges is I am trying to get drinks and beer to crystallize and I am beginning to have some success.

I also am testing a wide variety of readily available chemicals and my favorite so far is Vitamin C which is cheap and easy to get. There is a lot of variability in the crystals formed, some are characteristic and easy to identify by the crystals they form others are not. Citric acid and caffeine are also nice to work with.

Some crystal slides can be made in minutes, others take hours, days or weeks but the incredible variety of shapes and colors they offer can be produced by anyone that uses polarizing filters with their microscope. A full wave (red) plate - retardation filter is helpful, and DIC adds color to isotropic crystals that are not birefringent. Almost any microscope can be converted into a polarizing scope. If you want to see how simple it is to convert a microscope to a polarizing one watch this video by the Microbe Hunter on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQPPWXxCBX4

I would recommend using better quality glass linear polarizers - one above the light source and one in the eyepiece - but his technique can be used by anyone and only costs a few dollars.

I will provide details on the chemicals I have tried, solvents and the techniques which seem to work best in the upcoming article. I am learning lots about crystalization, precipitants, seeds etc. Tried vapor diffusion method but so far have only grown mold in the drops of beer

Photographs taken with Zeiss Axioscope 2.5, 5 and 10X, 20X Plan Achromat objectives using polarized light, the beer crystal was taken using DIC microscopy.

Anyone have any tips on growing crystals from beer, or alcoholic drinks I would love to hear from you - I already read everything Dr. Davidson was willing to share and dozens of papers on how to grow protein crystals.

Cheers



Vitamin C


Vitamin C


Vitamin C - 27 picture panorama about 7 feet wide and 5 feet high.


Vitamin C


Corona extra beer




Vitamin C

[Olympusman]

Very nice stuff. Cross-polarization is a remarkable technique. You mention you are trying to do drinks. One thing I have found is that many times sugar doesn't really crystalise as much as make a sticky blob on the slide that doesn't polarize. When I do my chemical slides I air and sun dry them on a piece of black paper on a windowsill.
Another interesting thing to try is to revisit a chemical slide periodically. I have found some chemicals, such as Citric Acid "cure" and their characteristics change.

Mike

[Robert Berdan]

Thank you Michael - I will try the sun technique with black paper, usually I protect the crystals from light and store them in the dark. I can sometimes see the heat of the microscope lamp affecting the crystal formation - it usually accelerates it.

Also sugar usually does not crystallize for me. I will try the sun cure technique you mention - thanks for the suggestion.

Cheers
RB

[Sumguy01]

Excellent photos.
Thanks for sharing.

[Smokedaddy]

Excellent

[Jacek]

SUPER !

[iconoclastica]

Sambuca crystalizes like hell. It'll be mainly sugar. If you don't have it thare I can send you a drop, if I can find a small vial to transport it.

[Robert Berdan]

Hi thank you kindly for the offer to send me a small sample of Sambuca - if you will mail it to me at the address below I will have a look at it.

I was reading last night that NaCl forms three distinct type of crystals: cubic, hopper crystals - long needle like connected cubes and 3) hopper crystals with interconnected tubes. But I am also seeing fern like crystals when NaCl is mixed with some alchols.

Hopper crystals: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29767976.

I am working on some energy drinks now - most of them have large amounts of caffeine which crystallizes nicely. I am having fun and its nice that I can now access research papers on the web or even contact the scientists if I have questions.

If you can spare a small sample of Sambuca.

My mailing address
Robert Berdan
6255-72nd ST. NW.
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
T3B 3V9

[iconoclastica]

Perhaps you'd better PM'ed me rather than publishing you address ...

I will make you something that will survive the mail.

Wim

[Troels]

Beautiful pictures!