Essay On Crystallization

Crystallization

Introduction:

Crystallization is a technique that has long been used in the purification of substances. Often, when a solid substance (single compound) is placed in a liquid, it dissolves. Upon adding more of the solid, a point eventually is reached beyond which no further solid dissolves, and the solution is said to be saturated with the solid compound.

In other words Crystallization is the process of forming a crystalline material from a liquid, gas or amorphous solid. The crystals thus formed have highly regular internal structure, the basis of which is called the crystal lattice. Since the formation of such a highly ordered structure prohibits foreign molecules from being incorporated into the lattice, a solid product of

The growth typically follows an initial stage of either homogeneous or heterogeneous (surface catalyzed) nucleation, unless a "seed" crystal, purposely added to start the growth, was already present. The action of crystal growth yields a crystalline solid whose atoms or molecules are typically close packed

Rate of Crystal Growth:

Once nuclei are formed, either spontaneously or by seeding, the crystals will continue to grow so long as supersaturation persists. The three main factors controlling the rates of both nucleation and of crystal growth are the temperature, the degree of supersaturation and the interfacial tension between the solute and the solvent. If supersaturation is maintained at a low level, nucleus formation is not encouraged but the available nuclei will continue to grow and large crystals will result. If supersaturation is high, there may be further nucleation and so the growth of existing crystals will not be so great. In practice, slow cooling maintaining a low level of supersaturation produces large crystals and fast cooling produces small