Crystal-clear – The '2014 Most Superlative Crystal Growth Contest' for School Classes

Conference Report

Authors

  • Didier Perret Chimiscope and Section de chimie et biochimie, University of Geneva, Switzerland. chimiscope@unige.ch
  • Hans Hagemann Chimiscope and Section de chimie et biochimie, University of Geneva, Switzerland
  • Radovan Černý Laboratoire de cristallographie, University of Geneva, Switzerland
  • Christoph Renner PhysiScope and Section de physique, University of Geneva, Switzerland
  • Enrico Giannini Section de physique, University of Geneva, Switzerland
  • Laure Guénée Laboratoire de cristallographie, University of Geneva, Switzerland
  • Céline Besnard Laboratoire de cristallographie, University of Geneva, Switzerland
  • David Gérard Chimiscope and Section de chimie et biochimie, University of Geneva, Switzerland
  • Lionel Windels Section de physique, University of Geneva, Switzerland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2533/chimia.2014.893

Keywords:

Crystal growth contest, Crystallography and society, Education, Incentive science, International year of crystallography 2014, School science, Potassium dihydrogen phosphate, Outreach initiative

Abstract

To celebrate the International Year of Crystallography among the general public, a consortium of chemists, physicists and crystallographers of the University of Geneva organised in Spring 2014 an incentive crystal growth contest for Geneva scholars aged 4 to 19. Starting from a kit containing a salt and user instructions, classes had to prepare a crystal that met specific criteria according to their category of age. The composition of the salt – potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) – was only disclosed to the participants during the final Awards Ceremony. This contest positively exceeded our expectations with almost 100 participating classes (ca. 1800 participants) and 54 specimens received over all categories.

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Published

2014-12-17

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Section

Columns, Conference Reports

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How to Cite

[1]
D. Perret, H. Hagemann, R. Černý, C. Renner, E. Giannini, L. Guénée, C. Besnard, D. Gérard, L. Windels, Chimia 2014, 68, 893, DOI: 10.2533/chimia.2014.893.