A DIY Recipe for Giant Hexagonal Ice Crystals

Ғылым және технология

Episode 3 of my series on water ice! In this video I walk through my process for vapor-growing single crystals of ice. Starting with a small single-crystal substrate, a large crystal can be grown by depositing vapor. I use a vacuum chamber to evaporate/sublimate water at about -20 celcius, then a peltier cooler to deposit that water vapor back into a solid. The awesome thing is how crystallographic the samples look - lots beautiful hexagonal facets!
Extra special thanks to Steve Mould for a fantastic explanation of the thermoelectric effect:
• Make Electricity Go Ro...
Other videos in this series:
The Sound of Freezing, Explained!
• The Sound of Freezing:...
The Sound of Freezing (Bonus Footage)
• The Sound of Freezing:...
What is polycrystalline water?
• What is polycrystallin...
A DIY Recipe for Giant Hexagonal Ice Crystals
• A DIY Recipe for Giant...
Big Hexagons of Ice 2: Thermoelectric Boogaloo
[TBD]
Check out the other social media for updates and ramblings:
/ tryitagain
/ alpha__phoenix
Interesting articles for the extra-curious:
J.M. Adams, W. Lewis, The Production of Large Single Crystals of Ice, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 5 (1934) 400-402. doi:10.1063/1.1751759.
T. Shichiri, Faceted ice crystals grown in water without air, J. Cryst. Growth. 187 (1998) 133-137. doi:10.1016/S0022-0248(97)00839-7.
P. Bisson, H. Groenzin, I.L. Barnett, M.J. Shultz, High yield, single crystal ice via the Bridgman method, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 87 (2016) 034103. doi:10.1063/1.4944481.
A. Cahoon, M. Maruyama, J.S. Wettlaufer, Growth-Melt Asymmetry in Crystals and Twelve-Sided Snowflakes, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 (2006) 255502. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.255502.
T. Gonda, The Growth of Small Ice Crystals in Gases of High and Low Pressures, C, J. Meteorol. Soc. Japan. Ser. II. 55 (1977) 142-146. doi:10.2151/jmsj1965.55.1_142.
Y. Furukawa, S. Kohata, Temperature dependence of the growth form of negative crystal in an ice single crystal and evaporation kinetics for its surfaces, J. Cryst. Growth. 129 (1993) 571-581. doi:10.1016/0022-0248(93)90493-G.
N.N. Khusnatdinov, V.F. Petrenko, Fast-growth technique for ice single crystals, J. Cryst. Growth. 163 (1996) 420-425. doi:10.1016/0022-0248(95)00980-9.
D. v. d. S. Roos, Rapid Production of Single Crystals of Ice, J. Glaciol. 14 (1975) 325-328. doi:10.3189/s0022143000021808.
#Materials #Physics #Crystals
Music and images in this video:
Arcadia - Wonders by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
I Dunno by grapes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/...)
ccmixter.org/files/grapes/16626
Space Walk by Silent Partner is licensed under a Creative Commons license
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowfla...

Пікірлер: 447

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel
    @AlphaPhoenixChannel3 жыл бұрын

    Corrections etc: [None yet! Find stuff that's wrong and let me know!] Extra special thanks to Steve Mould for a fantastic explanation of the thermoelectric effect! (and giving my channel a shoutout way back when this project was in its infancy) Check it out: kzread.info/dash/bejne/gWqrw8t-lbuqd9I.html

  • @MultiPleaser

    @MultiPleaser

    3 жыл бұрын

    I don't think the heat sink and peltier junction are thermally bonded. They are physically bonded with pressure from the nuts and bolts on the bracket you made. The instructions for using thermal compound between a CPU and heat sink say to use a single drop in the center and pressing the two together while keeping them parallel. That way all air bubbles are avoided and you won't overheat a micro spot on your CPU. (I've done this for two, old, used computers, which never burned out a CPU. They eventually failed when the mother boards developed problems.) I cringed when I saw the wavvy blob full of ridges of air on your heat sink.

  • @daven6910

    @daven6910

    3 жыл бұрын

    At 9:30 you use the "KZread Premier countdown" music. Those of us who watch premiers have grown to hate it! I automatically reached for the mute button. Not your fault. Otherwise a great video.

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    @multipleaser That was not the way it actually ran - I did it the right way, with a small blob smeared out with pressure - i even filmed it from up close with a macro lens to get the squish, but somehow that footage got lost, and I ended up with a clip of that gross blob from early in the process (note that it had two peltiers on that one too), and that clip itself was ALREADY a recreation, which is why there was an awful blob on top of already flat stuff.... sorry it was cringey - i agree!

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    @dave ,N - oh no! - I used that audio on one of my favorite timelapses - sucks that it has picked up a bad connotation...

  • @Shipfish

    @Shipfish

    2 жыл бұрын

    I would like to know if single crystal ice has a more or less satisfying crunch than regular ice. I think that would be a delightful followup to this video!

  • @storminmormin14
    @storminmormin143 жыл бұрын

    I work in the vacuums lab at a university physics department. You are a monster for what you did to that pump.

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    I had to change the oil multiple times - it was super groady after getting mixed with water... I just bought “food grade” mineral oil too cause it was cheap. Not sure about the viscosity but the pump didn’t seem to mind xD

  • @usmguy1234

    @usmguy1234

    2 жыл бұрын

    You should see what happens to one when filtering solids washed in diethyl-ether in an enclosed fume hood cabinet. Needless to say the fume hood was sashless and the undergrads were not allowed to use the vacuum pump again...or the new one rather.

  • @LevySkulk

    @LevySkulk

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@AlphaPhoenixChannel very late to this, but companies like Harvest Rite sell oil-less vacuum pumps for use with their freeze dryers. I use them at work, very low maintenance and can handle hundreds of cycles

  • @dangoldbach6570

    @dangoldbach6570

    2 жыл бұрын

    Try shell turbo 68 steam turbine oil. I use it in my Welsh capture pumps when recovering refrigerant from chillers. It gets milky but it's got the highest water tolerance I have found so far

  • @usmguy1234

    @usmguy1234

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@dangoldbach6570 can confirm, gst 68 is good shit.

  • @nairb118
    @nairb1183 жыл бұрын

    I appreciate the Kerbal Space Program music in the intro!

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Haha is that Kerbal music too? Cool! It's a really common royalty-free song (at least I use it a lot) Arcadia - Wonders by Kevin MacLeod

  • @nairb118

    @nairb118

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@AlphaPhoenixChannel Neat to hear that's where they got it! Kerbal uses that music once you escape atmosphere and start orbiting. Kinda makes sense they would use royalty free, I don't think the original developer expected much commercial success.

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    I've always been scared to start playing Kerbal, lest I loose the time to do anything else.

  • @ronwesilen4536

    @ronwesilen4536

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@AlphaPhoenixChannel you should definitely sell your life to the kerbal overlords. I did it and I'm happy for that

  • @TimTomHarry

    @TimTomHarry

    2 жыл бұрын

    I believe the song is also in Fable 3

  • @Purpleturtlehurtler
    @Purpleturtlehurtler2 жыл бұрын

    The joyous laughter of a scientist doing what his 5th grade self wanted to always do himself brings me life.

  • @kernelle4

    @kernelle4

    2 жыл бұрын

    What can I say, the man loves a good vaccuum

  • @Ornateluna
    @Ornateluna3 жыл бұрын

    I remember when about half a year ago I googled pictures of single ice crystals but at best I could find some research papers on growing them, so this series has really scratched an itch of mine about ice crystals

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    most of the research is about tiny ones - it frustrated me nobody has tried this scale before! I know I could have made more impressive ones with real lab equipment

  • @LC-sc3en

    @LC-sc3en

    9 ай бұрын

    Someone I know just texted me a picture of a drink they froze that had formed a pattern of concentric hexagons on its surface. It was wild! This video is the closest I was able to get to an explanation of how likely it was to occur.

  • @flirkami
    @flirkami3 жыл бұрын

    4:20 that Transition was daamn smooth!

  • @Scanlaid

    @Scanlaid

    3 жыл бұрын

    Little bit of tv magic for ya. I oohed and aahed like the emeril live studio audience

  • @1.4142

    @1.4142

    3 жыл бұрын

    Fooled me. Also the timestamp lmao

  • @turun_ambartanen

    @turun_ambartanen

    3 жыл бұрын

    You mean him grabbing the other dish?

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Shhhh

  • @turun_ambartanen

    @turun_ambartanen

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@AlphaPhoenixChannel Gotta say though, that was amazingly done! I watched that part at least 20 times to make sure ;)

  • @KX36
    @KX363 жыл бұрын

    Don't let CGP Grey fool you, wetsagons are the real bestagons.

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    "Hexagons are the Bestagons" is a really fantastic video though. After I saw that, I spent the next two weeks inhaling every CGP Grey video I could find

  • @jek__

    @jek__

    2 жыл бұрын

    isnt that vihart

  • @archevenault

    @archevenault

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@jek__ Nah vihart is hexaflexagon

  • @joshuamurray9112
    @joshuamurray91122 жыл бұрын

    “You must preheat your freezer to -20 Celsius” Hmmm

  • @oneilmw

    @oneilmw

    2 жыл бұрын

    Welcome to Cooking with AlphaPhoenix!

  • @cope9489

    @cope9489

    2 жыл бұрын

    People living in Siberia:

  • @cursedcliff7562

    @cursedcliff7562

    Жыл бұрын

    Pre-Heated (relative to absolute zero :p)

  • @eamonia

    @eamonia

    Жыл бұрын

    I guess he going by the Kelvin standard.

  • @puddlejumper3259
    @puddlejumper32592 жыл бұрын

    Dude I love your delivery at the beginning: "Really cool hexagonal ice cubes. I don't mean cool thermally but they will also be that" Was the most amazingly nerdy thing I think I've heard anyone say

  • @recurvestickerdragon
    @recurvestickerdragon2 жыл бұрын

    Technology Connections would have a field day with how many consecutive heat pumps are used in the cooling

  • @SirFloIII

    @SirFloIII

    2 жыл бұрын

    Really connecting them technologies

  • @basedyoshi7253

    @basedyoshi7253

    2 жыл бұрын

    I see you're a man of culture as well

  • @JNCressey

    @JNCressey

    2 жыл бұрын

    I think 'heat pump' only refers to devices using the refrigeration cycle. The general term being 'reverse heat engine' for a device that takes work and moves heat.

  • @wbeaty
    @wbeaty2 жыл бұрын

    The MIT underwater snowflake machine for years was on display at the Museum of Science in Boston. Two of them! (so, as one was melting and re-chilling, the other was making snowflakes.) I was the tech manager there at the time. Each was a flat cell of supercooled water, mounted vertically, w/side lighting against black background, (with glycol cooling for rapid temp changes,) plus a 1cm coldfinger near the top, to produce a large excursion and nucleate some seed crystals. As they fell, the dense seeds grew to thin snowflakes up to 30mm wide, piling up at the bottom of the water-cell.

  • @4LO4LO
    @4LO4LO2 жыл бұрын

    Just a suggestion, if you ever need degassed water again, you could degas your water by keeping it just below the boiling point for a long time (ideally for a day or two). Then you could boil some of the water off, rig steam to your peltier chamber, then vent your peltier chamber (at net positive pressure) to atmosphere to ensure it is filled only with steam (by displacement/dilution). Degas complete without potentially harming your pump. Either way, you got the results you are looking for. Good job. This was a really educational and fascinating video, and you are a good storyteller.

  • @MouZ245
    @MouZ2452 жыл бұрын

    Thanks, KZread-algorythm! I watch videos about squirrels and am into science, too. Yesterday youtube decided to show me a video from Steve Mould talking about how squirrels cache acorns and how acorns use that to reproduce effectively. That video brought me here (since I liked it). Now that (at 6:35 ) Steve Mould gets mentioned I finally know how I got here.

  • @purdysanchez
    @purdysanchez2 жыл бұрын

    Never on my life did think I would ever be so fascinated about using applied physics to try and achieve unadulterated lattice structures, but your videos are just too good. Well done.

  • @ssholum
    @ssholum3 жыл бұрын

    Very cool seeing those hexagons finally! Reminds me of when I learned about the process for making monocrystaline silicon wafers. The nano-scale doping process for making devices was also cool, but there's something amazing about taking a tiny seed crystal and pulling a giant bullion out of molten material.

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    I’d love to see a bulk 14” silicon boule in person one day

  • @IainMcClatchie

    @IainMcClatchie

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@AlphaPhoenixChannel SunEdison had one in their lobby a few years ago. 20 feet long! That's 4000 wafers or so. Silicon is zone refined, which I think means they melt a cylinder of it from one end to the other while pulling heat out both ends. My understanding is that for this to work, the silicon would have to solidify as a single crystal, otherwise they'd collect impurities in the grain boundaries. So that suggests there are two ways used to make single crystals, the Czochralsky method but also this simpler freezing in the zone refining container. Or is zone refining done with the Czochralsky pull at the top? If not, why bother with the Czochralsky method? They need to align the crystal orientation to the boule axis, so that the wafer can have a single crystalline face. Maybe the zone refining process doesn't give control over the crystal axes. I wonder if there is something you can do with zone refined water that wouldn't work in presence of even tiny amounts of impurities. I can't think of one myself, which makes demonstrating zone refined ice less interesting.

  • @namibjDerEchte

    @namibjDerEchte

    6 ай бұрын

    @@IainMcClatchie zone melting refines the purity because the dirt will travel along with the melt zone preferentially, rather than crystallizing out. Essentially sorta like freeze-distilling.

  • @AlanZucconi
    @AlanZucconi3 жыл бұрын

    Very nice! ❄️ I've been having a lot of issues myself with Peltier modules when I was trying to build a mini fridge/incubator for ants! I made an oven instead. 😅

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    OOOOOOOH man yes that was my experience. heat removal is a PAIN

  • @eamonia

    @eamonia

    Жыл бұрын

    Oh no! I bet they were like, "Why God, why? What have we done to displease you?" And the little Job ant was like, "No, it's cool guys. We should still kiss his ass." And then you stepped in and said, "Shut up you stupid ants, God isn't real."

  • @russellking747
    @russellking7472 жыл бұрын

    Pro-tip: Ever noticed that large crystals are usually produced in a liquid bath? PRo-Pro-tip: why don't you just seed a crystal on demand? I accidentally did this once - funnily enough using a peltier the other way around: I had a sodium acetate heat pack, and wanted to measure the temperature point at which the seed clicker stopped producing seed crystals - I was using a peltier as a heater to accurately maintain the temperature of the heat pack, as regulating the thermal output of a peltier can be done slowly by setting the power electrically and make quick adjustments by varying the temperature of the cold side (with another peltier); I found that I was getting a large single crystal at around the 56°C mark (it took ages), rather than the dentral slush that usually forms. I could not get a crystal at all above 57°, although this could have been error in my temperature sensing (I was using a schottky diode as the sensor and crude temperature readings from several sources to map the voltage drop to a temperature gradient). The most prominent result from this is that I didn't see dendral formations if I regulated the temperature of the sodium acetate within a couple of degrees below its freezing point. I also noticed that spawning the seed crystal often resulted in a single crystal - maybe because of the very low probability at the temperatures I was doing this at. This video reminded me of that experiment. Maybe this could be better way of getting a single ice crystal? The method: Supercool pure water to a couple of degrees below zero, spawn a seed, and regulate temperature as close to below freezing as possible - note that this is somewhat self-regulating, due to the supercooled freezing effectively raising the temperature of the medium as the ice forms - you only have to keep the liquid bath temperature constant and slightly below freezing. Just a thought, hope it helps.

  • @charliesteiner2334
    @charliesteiner23343 жыл бұрын

    Vacuum pump tip: run the water vapor through a cold trap before it goes to the pump. The "cold trap" can just be a part of the tube that you dunk in a dry ice ethanol bath, but that will get clogged easy - better trap geometries can require brazing tubes into bigger tubes though.

  • @antivanti
    @antivanti2 жыл бұрын

    A note on freezers. While they can achieve a decent difference in temperature between inside and outside they can only move a certain amount of heat per unit of time so if you try to cool a heat source with a bigger output of heat than that it will eventually just act as a big insulated box that gets warmer and warmer. This is why you cannot cool a gaming PC in the freezer. Kind of like how your initial insufficiently cooled stack of peltier elements ended up heating rather than cooling 😊👍

  • @RaderGH
    @RaderGH2 жыл бұрын

    People: 'There are no straight lines in nature' Nature: 'Hold my solid water'

  • @laughterman805

    @laughterman805

    2 жыл бұрын

    Meh.

  • @1.4142
    @1.41423 жыл бұрын

    Somewhere out there, aliens make jewelry out of ice.

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Fun to think about. Wonder what kinds of “biological” reactions could exist at very low temperatures by earth-life standards?

  • @max_kl

    @max_kl

    3 жыл бұрын

    Those would probably also be rather slow-moving aliens

  • @StormBurnX
    @StormBurnX2 жыл бұрын

    I feel like we have a new "Ben at Applied Science" on youtube and I'm so incredibly excited about this.

  • @krmr
    @krmr3 жыл бұрын

    Getting strong Breaking Bad vibes.. a garage, jugs, contraptions on a table, tarp covering stuff up, the Hawaiian shirt. Cooking up 'ice' 😂

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Gotta get myself a Winnebago just for chemistry videos...

  • @krmr

    @krmr

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@AlphaPhoenixChannel You probably already got the necessary glassware, but If you then start growing ice and other crystals in an RV.. we know where that leads.

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    filmed through a clear table last night

  • @halonothing1
    @halonothing1 Жыл бұрын

    I'm glad I stumbled on this video again. I've recently been growing crystals from different chemicals. Nothing fancy, calcium acetate, sodium acetate, salt, calcium carbonate, citric acid, which makes very nice crystals. But I could never get them more than about 1cm at the largest. I'm more or less trying to do this "discovery style" just exploring and discovering it all on my own without reading anything (or very much) about it. I think even though it's about ice, the principles in this video could be applied to my own crystal growing attempts.

  • @KingSharpeMan
    @KingSharpeMan2 жыл бұрын

    That's why I always tell people ice is a natural mineral. It occurs naturally, it has a definite composition, it has a crystaline structure it is not organic, and it's a solid. We put rocks in our soda!

  • @TlalocTemporal

    @TlalocTemporal

    7 ай бұрын

    I mean, we already put rocks in our soda. That's why it's called soda -- sodium bicarbonate, which we can get as nahcolite, or crystallizing it out of mineral springs. Also, some drinks have salt, so that's three minerals in drinks. Glass too if your clumsy! :p

  • @Goodgu3963
    @Goodgu39632 жыл бұрын

    4:25 that jump cut was SMOOOOOOTH lol nicely done

  • @ViiKing_
    @ViiKing_3 жыл бұрын

    Haha, jokes on you, I already watched Steve Mould's video ages ago!

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    I mean most of you probably came direct from his channel - there’s not a lot I can do to repay his favor...

  • @ViiKing_

    @ViiKing_

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@AlphaPhoenixChannel I don't remember how I found you but your content is awesome nevertheless

  • @bytesandbikes
    @bytesandbikes3 жыл бұрын

    This project is fascinating. I especially like the adsorption cooler driven with a peltier cooler!

  • @Tomkat53
    @Tomkat532 жыл бұрын

    You're such an outstanding nerd scientist! I love every moment watching this channel!

  • @jonathanacuna
    @jonathanacuna2 жыл бұрын

    I love that you have visuals for everything your talking about. Makes it simple to follow along 😄🙏🏼

  • @torinireland6526
    @torinireland65262 жыл бұрын

    Your dry humor in the intro was hilarious :) Great work!

  • @JesusSportsNature
    @JesusSportsNature9 ай бұрын

    Hexagonal prisms so cool!

  • @stefanheimersheim
    @stefanheimersheim3 жыл бұрын

    You're making amazing videos! Your fun with just doing things, and the spirit of a grad student, it's awesome! Edit: Are you still grad student? Not sure, was one of your older vids maybe

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    soon to not be :)

  • @nicktohzyu
    @nicktohzyu3 жыл бұрын

    if you don't need a large temperature delta across the peltier, it's far more effective to get a higher current rated peltier (eg the 12715) and undervolt it

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Interesting point! I just bought something cheap - maybe that was a bad plan...

  • @GodlikeIridium
    @GodlikeIridium Жыл бұрын

    That is so cool! The crystal looked absolutely amazing!

  • @miamatti
    @miamatti2 жыл бұрын

    OHHH yea Im so Fricken stoked to find this channel!!!!!!

  • @asdfadfafsdfa
    @asdfadfafsdfa2 жыл бұрын

    This channel will be huge sooner than we realize

  • @fernandogarciacortez4911
    @fernandogarciacortez49113 жыл бұрын

    Awesome video as always!

  • @s1nningjezus207
    @s1nningjezus2072 жыл бұрын

    That was great. Thank you!

  • @jonathanfeller
    @jonathanfeller3 жыл бұрын

    I was looking forward to this video! Thank you for the awesome content! :-)

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    You’re welcome! Glad you like the channel! There’s a pt. 2 to this one too - watch out

  • @philipcox5859
    @philipcox58592 жыл бұрын

    it is crazy how underrated you are, u need more subs man

  • @timothysands5537
    @timothysands55372 жыл бұрын

    This guy is awesome 👌👏😎 Great work ethic too for sticking with this.

  • @clarity7699
    @clarity76992 жыл бұрын

    This gave me an eyegasm thank you

  • @CKOD
    @CKOD3 жыл бұрын

    1 / 18 crystalline phases done! Ice II, Ice III next?

  • @laughterman805

    @laughterman805

    2 жыл бұрын

    Ice nine

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    2 жыл бұрын

    I briefly googled how difficult it would be to build a diamond anvil cell a few days ago, but unfortunately the answer is "pretty hard"

  • @JoshuaDoss
    @JoshuaDoss2 жыл бұрын

    I am really liking these. More please

  • @Techischannel
    @Techischannel2 жыл бұрын

    A Dish that turns whiter and whiter the colder it gets?! THATS MEGA COOL!

  • @genuinedickies99
    @genuinedickies992 жыл бұрын

    Water vapor atmosphere... What an odd way to drown. And thank you for sharing, that water crystal was neat. I bet a shear off of it would look crazy.

  • @TachyonAnnihilator
    @TachyonAnnihilator2 жыл бұрын

    Reminds me of when I went to Iceland. We passed a frozen waterfall, and a chunk had fallen and smashed weeks prior. One piece had a wonderful tessellated hexagon pattern. Really beautiful chunk of ice. I only now know what I really saw... and I'm sorry to say this man... but mother nature 1 upped you. You got out done by iceland's wonderful seasons xD

  • @live4twilight4ever
    @live4twilight4ever2 жыл бұрын

    not to be a huge nerd but the drow in the legend of drizzt books, back when they had infravision, used what i now recognize as magical versions of peltier coolers to signal each other over long distances in the dark and i think that's pretty cool

  • @ricardasist
    @ricardasist3 жыл бұрын

    Amazing video!

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thanks!

  • @johnpossum556
    @johnpossum5563 жыл бұрын

    Excellent video to release today. We've just had -23C and we're going to get colder!

  • @SnizzyDeeFTW
    @SnizzyDeeFTW3 жыл бұрын

    N-ice video, I'm enjoying the mini series on ice crystals

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    groanupvote :)

  • @brettkalfas5012
    @brettkalfas50122 жыл бұрын

    This has Bill Nye vibes and I love it.

  • @CrooningRevival365
    @CrooningRevival3653 жыл бұрын

    Dude you deserve so many more views.

  • @useazebra
    @useazebra2 жыл бұрын

    Great video! As i understand it, attempting to grow a single crystal is really tricky, imvolving a lot of effort to maintain the right concentration of available atom, ions, or molecules PLUS the right pressure PLUS the right temperature,and possibly sometimes the right electrical charge. As near as I can tell, the people who have figured out ways of depositing perfect crystals of interesting substances (diamond, sapphire, lithium flouride used in JWST lenses) guard their secrets pretty tightly.

  • @1PoodleKing1
    @1PoodleKing13 жыл бұрын

    Awesome video! Been waiting for this since Steve Mould's video came out. Worth the wait. Really interested in part 2. It would be cool to give a brief explanation of why it grows in steps and ledges. I'm not entirely clear on whether this is a single crystal, of if it's a polycrystalline with the basal planes all oriented in the same direction

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    It’s a single crystal it’s just cut at an inconvenient angle so it zigzags with facets. There’s a graphic to explain that I just put together for the next video. I was REALLY hoping that I angled the camera and the light correctly once to see the “step flow” growth and the. Nucleation of new islands on top but unfortunately none of them were so perfect

  • @eitanseitchik3020
    @eitanseitchik30203 жыл бұрын

    Here from Steve Mould! You got a subscriber!

  • @Raraoolala
    @Raraoolala3 жыл бұрын

    Where's the (timelapse) shot from the whole contraption in the freezer with the Sony camera looking through that glass?

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Editing a supercut of those lapses as we speak! Soon...

  • @h2amster328
    @h2amster3282 жыл бұрын

    I'm glad I'm not the only one who calls ice "frozen water."

  • @ding0172
    @ding0172 Жыл бұрын

    Been directed here, wasn't sure to subscribe until I saw the shirt, it definitely deserves a subscription!

  • @miklov
    @miklov3 жыл бұрын

    Great content!

  • @dangoldbach6570
    @dangoldbach65702 жыл бұрын

    Found this channel when I was researching sputter coating for a camera lens project...yeah... Nuts, but, whatever. This channel is great! Subscribed! My thoughts on this so far, de-gassing the water and the distillation process is giving you a beautifully pure crystal of water, brilliant use of the peltier waste heat! Second, run your vacuum line through molecular sieve, it will save your vacuum pump. An activated carbon trap will also scavenge excess N2 and O2 also if you leave it connected to the vacuum chamber.... I think! But, your experience in molecular epitaxy chambers is probably going to give you a far better grasp on this than I!!! 😂

  • @RiffZifnab
    @RiffZifnab3 жыл бұрын

    Best ice cubes found! (:

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    the bestagons?

  • @RiffZifnab

    @RiffZifnab

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@AlphaPhoenixChannel Exactly (: Needs a better name than "ice cube" though. BestaHexaIceAgon?

  • @ploobooble1141
    @ploobooble11412 жыл бұрын

    Ah, the lovely sound of reaching space in ksp

  • @1ch190
    @1ch1902 жыл бұрын

    Nice facets dudeski

  • @andie_pants
    @andie_pants2 жыл бұрын

    9:30 I have a pavlovian response to this music to run and grab a beer or go pee real quick because the premier is about to begin!

  • @YodaWhat
    @YodaWhat Жыл бұрын

    *Cold Traps. USE THEM!* Why not prevent most of the water vapor from ever reaching the vacuum pump? Simple to make, easy to use: a coil of soft copper tubing inserted into the vacuum hose between pump and chamber, with the coil immersed into a container of dry ice drowned in alcohol. It is only needed for the few minutes it takes to de-gas the vacuum chamber. Virtually all the water vapor headed for the pump gets intercepted and frozen onto the inside of the coil, leaving very little water for the pump to contend with. Water in the chamber can be de-gassed in advance by boiling it for 15 minutes. U-shaped tubes (preferably loosely stuffed with metal wool) can be used instead of copper coil, and several can be put in parallel for extra capacity. If it is necessary to use _hard copper_ tubing or other material you don't want to bend, the U-shapes can be soldered together from straight sections and elbows. U-tubes are easily made that will fit inside a normal Thermos-type bottle if a cryo-dewar is not available. Also, a warmer (but still cold) trap can be used for low vacuum work with water vapor. A trap at about zero degrees F can be used to capture most of the water vapor before it reaches the dry ice trap. Zero °F is easily achieved by pouring rock salt over ice cubes. Slightly colder can be achieved with salts other than NaCl. When large amounts of water vapor must be intercepted, consider adding extra pathways (and volume) in the bottom of U-tubes by making a sort of ladder from tees, with elbows only at the bottom. That will prevent liquid 'slugging' towards the pump if the elbows get filled up with liquid. For water vapor in high vacuum, use a dry ice cold trap followed by a trap chilled with liquid nitrogen. The vapor pressure of H2O at LN2 temperature is extremely low... consider the icy moons in the outer solar system that have not sublimed away even after billions of years.

  • @Scrogan
    @Scrogan3 жыл бұрын

    Very nice work! The thermal loop and the filling of the chamber with water vapour is a very elegant solution. I remember suggesting trying to use a pettier to grow a crystal from liquid water in the last video, but that would require a setup more complicated than this one. Crystal growth might be different in nature though. Only suggestion I have now is to add a tiny camera (like from a raspi or USB/laptop webcam) inside the freezer to get a time lapse. But I’ve no idea if a CCD would work at those temperatures, not to mention in a vacuum chamber.

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    I tried just submerging the peltier in water in the vacuum chamber instead of only partially filling the chamber and never saw any facets (despite what the literature told me...) And don't worry - I have PLENTY of timelapse of growing crystal set to release. I'm really pleased with it - I put the whole big mirrorless camera in the freezer for like multiple weeks total. I think i'm going to release a very short "how to film in the freezer" follow up video as a technical interest

  • @rockhunther0209
    @rockhunther02092 жыл бұрын

    It's so....beautiful...

  • @wilfredswinkels
    @wilfredswinkels3 жыл бұрын

    YAY you made hackaday!! congrats!! :-D

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Thanks!

  • @krishorst4734
    @krishorst47342 жыл бұрын

    Well this is sort of like getting 1000 people to join together and hold hands and say its the biggest person ever.

  • @xXRickTrolledXx
    @xXRickTrolledXx2 жыл бұрын

    3:26 to 3:33 is was really well delivered and edited. Good belly laugh.

  • @zachsprat9977
    @zachsprat99772 жыл бұрын

    Kinda reminds me of etched phenakite crystals. This is so dope duuuude.

  • @ronwesilen4536
    @ronwesilen45363 жыл бұрын

    This is pretty amazing. Very good work! I hope you channel gets big soon. Have you seen the community tab exploit? Maybe that can help, who knows.

  • @boobrowsky
    @boobrowsky2 жыл бұрын

    Interesting amount of dedication to creating single hail ball :P

  • @MrDavePed
    @MrDavePed Жыл бұрын

    One very special morning I was driving home at sunrise. The crystals were covering all the golden autumn trees as far as I could see. Not ordinary crystals, these were paper thin crystals the size of silver dollars covering everything. The sun was rising into a clear blue sky and the effect was absolutely dazzling. If I only had a camera with me at the time. ..

  • @zeroproductionvalue3993
    @zeroproductionvalue39932 жыл бұрын

    This would be an amazing super fancy whiskey ball

  • @ChronicSkooma

    @ChronicSkooma

    2 жыл бұрын

    Literally a hundred dollar ice cube.

  • @BlueButtonMasher
    @BlueButtonMasher3 жыл бұрын

    this makes me appreciate the set design of superman 2

  • @seeigecannon
    @seeigecannon3 жыл бұрын

    Heh, I have a turbo vac pump at home that I was using for freezedrying (hey, overkill works). My failed experiments included burned ice cream and burned popsicles, but the giant Lucky Charms... er, marshmellows, turned out great.

  • @superdupergrover9857
    @superdupergrover98572 жыл бұрын

    You'll want to get a chest freezer. Technology Connections did a video on it, basically, they are just WAY better than stand up freezers because cold air sinks and chest freezers have the door on the top. Also, you'll have way more space for filming.

  • @TlalocTemporal

    @TlalocTemporal

    7 ай бұрын

    That only matters if you're opening the freezer to get things. Since this is running for a week, the only risk is short temperature jumps, but there should be plenty of thermal mass in the water and metal there.

  • @ivanbravo6986
    @ivanbravo69862 жыл бұрын

    This guy is like the chemistry teacher version of engineering explained 😂

  • @trevorgray3681

    @trevorgray3681

    2 жыл бұрын

    I thought I was the only one lol. He even sounds similar

  • @EthanShalev
    @EthanShalev3 жыл бұрын

    This must have been so rewarding, after all the difficulties growing a single crystal in the past.

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    YEP! It feels reallly good to have the project done and filmed (just a tiny bit of editing left for the last main video). Still feel like it wasn't 100% though - I originally wanted a hexagonal prism the size of my fist. oh well...

  • @EthanShalev

    @EthanShalev

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@AlphaPhoenixChannel a lot of the US is having a very cold winter now. Any chance you can take advantage of that and grow a crystal out on the lawn, rather than in the freezer?

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    haha first off I live in Southern California, so it's 64 F outside. Second, although I really struggled getting my freezer to hold a constant temperature, I think it would be even more variable outside - would be fun to try though. There'll be a bit more detail on these kinds of technical bits in the next video - stay tuned!

  • @57thorns
    @57thorns2 жыл бұрын

    Loved the ending, "densified marshmallows are disgusting". Sometime the grownups actually had a point when they told you not to do things as a kid. And sometimes, you shouldn't do those things even as an adult. A kid should neither drink nor drive, an adult can do both, not just at the same time. Also: Not drinking and driving goes for water as well, if you need a sip of water as a driver, you need a break as well.

  • @JayPixx
    @JayPixx3 жыл бұрын

    Looks amazing! Great work mate :3 funny and educating. So much passion in what you are doing.

  • @michaelmolter6180
    @michaelmolter61802 жыл бұрын

    Peltier junctions are roughly 10% efficient. If you want to move 10W away from something cold, you need to dissipate roughly 110W on the hot side (10W + 10W / 10%). This means in the second stage / layer, you'd need to dissipate 1210 W! Just to move that tiny 10W from the first layer cold side!

  • @AboveEmAllProduction
    @AboveEmAllProduction2 жыл бұрын

    Thank so much for this recepie i was stuck so long make only square ones, tyyy

  • @matiakd
    @matiakd2 жыл бұрын

    Love to make ice crystals 😉

  • @tophan5146
    @tophan51462 жыл бұрын

    Smooth intro 😎

  • @BasedBidoof
    @BasedBidoof2 жыл бұрын

    huh I wanna taste a densified marshmallow now. That stack of hexagon crystals is pure art.

  • @raeem5064
    @raeem5064 Жыл бұрын

    For reasons unknown, I’ve cried upon seeing the ice structure in the end

  • @fzigunov
    @fzigunov3 жыл бұрын

    12:11 OMG that's so cool!!!

  • @prajna_meher
    @prajna_meher2 жыл бұрын

    Fantastic!. Is there any way this type of structures can be formed in metals. Just curious 🤔. Chiao

  • @daven6910
    @daven69103 жыл бұрын

    For some reason I feel compelled to subscribe.

  • @d19sbp
    @d19sbp2 жыл бұрын

    Ok you did do that, nice

  • @IanWilkinson
    @IanWilkinson3 жыл бұрын

    Cool!

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    Literally!

  • @nova5303
    @nova53033 жыл бұрын

    I see you tried out some fancy editing in this video. Nice!

  • @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    @AlphaPhoenixChannel

    3 жыл бұрын

    I've been trying to weave more and more in - it's a lot of fun. one of my favorites was the "random machine" video from last year (I think last year?) where the whole intro is a conversation with my digital clone :)

  • @DBXLabs
    @DBXLabs3 жыл бұрын

    Nice video

  • @3RaccoonsInATank
    @3RaccoonsInATank2 жыл бұрын

    4:30 i though that was some kind wizardry CGI and was trying to find how it was done. after about 5 or 10 min of that i realized there was a second dish in there the whole time

  • @user-iq6en8ed7q
    @user-iq6en8ed7q2 жыл бұрын

    the bowl changing color joke just won me over :^ I now subscribe

  • @intothecalm420
    @intothecalm4203 жыл бұрын

    Cool channel! New sub

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