Product Details
- Item Weight: 0.3 ounces
- Shipping Weight: 0.3 ounces
These beautiful man-made crystals float to the top of a super-cooled bismuthmelt and form within minutes. Bismuth is one of the few materials that have agreater density as a liquid than as a solid. Only a few other materials suchas water, gallium and germanium, exhibit this property. The trigonal crystalstructure accounts for the cubic formations. The iridescent rainbows of colorsobserved are caused by light scattering off thin layers of bismuth oxideformed when the surface of the hot bismuth reacts with the air. Specimensrange from 12 to 17g with a density of 9.81 g/cc. Great for teaching aboutcrystals, states of matter or even as a gift!