Crystal Power: What you can and can’t do with crystals · 1:44pm Apr 3rd, 2016
Some years ago, as a young physics undergraduate, I knew a sociology student who would come along to a group I would hang out with, accompanied by her extremely cute four-year-old daughter. She was as friendly and talkative as Pinkie Pie—the sociology student, not her little girl, who was too shy to talk and would hide behind a chair if anyone spoke to her—and would talk at great length, to anyone who would listen, about the failings of the social care system, the leadership battles within the university sociology society, and the financial difficulties she faced being a full-time student and a single mother.
Once, after giving me a breakdown of her personal budget problems, she switched subject and proudly showed me the Memory Crystal which she had purchased, for a not inconsiderable sum, to help prepare for her exams. It appeared to be a small lump of quartz. She explained the process by which she had chosen this particular crystal, which involved visiting a specialist store, where you are presented with a tray of glittering rocks, and you move your hand over the selection until you feel the energy flow from a particular crystal and you know that that is the one for you. Such crystals can allegedly not only help with exam preparation, but can also cure all manner of ailments by absorbing, redirecting or focusing healing ‘energy’.
On such matters, I refer to the excellent book on alternative medicine Trick or Treatment (Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst), which states:
This approach is not in accordance with our understanding of physics, physiology or any other field of science. Crystal therapy therefore lacks scientific plausibility.
Or, in the terminology used by the scientific community, it’s bullshit.
But, if taking a pet rock into exams helps you to recall whatever it is that sociology students need to remember, that’s good, I guess. Incidentally the benefit comes from power of suggestion.
I’m not sure exactly where these New Age ideas came from. There are some claims that the powers of crystals were first recognised in ancient Egypt or Greece, but ignored by medieval Europeans, who preferred their healing miracles to come from the bones of saints. But the idea that crystals possess some sort of special power is a peculiarly appealing idea which has been taken up by countless fantasy and science fiction writers. It seems only natural that something buried underground for hundreds of millions of years—something which shines and glitters in such an alluring way—must possess magic powers.
So in the magical land of Equestria and the Crystal Empire, we have the Crystal Heart. An ancient relic able to extract energy from the love ponies feel for each other (but in a nicer way to how the changelings do it) and used to keep the Crystal Empire in a warm, cosy microclimate and expel nefarious unicorns. Quite how this works is left as a fun exercise for those who like to work out pseudoscientific theories of magic.
While real world crystals may lack the power to hold off an ice-age, defeat King Sombra, or cure cancer, there is a long and fascinating list of thing which they can do. Of course, crystal, is a very general term, meaning any solid sample where the atoms are stacked in a regular lattice, including ice, salt, wafers of silicon, and metal machine parts. The turbine blades in jet engines are made from single crystals of titanium. But it is the minerals which we dig out of the ground that we think of first.
Crystals form regular shapes—cubic, hexagonal, orthorhombic or whatever—as their atomic structure means they tend to cleave along certain directions. One of the reasons they are so fascinating to scientists is that by looking at the shapes of crystals, we can understand the way the atoms are stacked. Indeed crystals are one of the simplest ways to show that the world around us is made of atoms. A standard technique to decipher the structure of a new material, is to first form it into a crystal, with all the atoms or molecules arranged in a lattice. Then x-ray this, and by looking at the scattering and diffraction of the x-rays, we can understand the arrangement of the atoms.
Crystals shine best under the right light, which can be reflected and refracted, and split into rainbow of colours. Some materials can fluoresce—glow in vivid visible colours when exposed to invisible ultra-violet light. The first laser was made from a ruby crystal held between two mirrors. Scintillator crystals—which give out light when exposed to radiation—are an component of many particle detectors. Crystals can also tell us about the radiation they have been exposed to. As radiation kicks electrons out of their rightful place in the lattice and some of them get stuck in trap states. The radiation dosimeter badges we are obliged to wear when visiting a nuclear reactor contain crystals which do this, so we can keep a record of our exposure to any radiation. By analysing tiny crystals in ancient pottery we can tell how old it is, from the amount of natural radiation it has absorbed since it was fired. Crystals in underground sediment can tell us how long they have been buried underground. The vibrations of quartz crystals keep accurate time in your digital watch. Chances are the words you are now reading are formed from liquid crystals aligned to give the contrasting colours which make up the letters and background.
You can even use them to make pretty jewellery.
Although Boulder thinks they’re all too stuck up.
It's a combination of "Ooh, shiny rocks!" and human fascination with symmetry, I think. And a lot of crystal formations sure look absolutely magical.
I prefer to think of crystals as being as close as matter gets to aligning with our concept of perfection. Something of a gift nature gives us, though their beauty must be teased out by various cutting/grinding/polishing procedures. And some of their properties are magical for all intents and purposes.
Can't really blame King Sombra for being obsessed with them.
I'm pretty sure you've linked to the paper on bullshit before, but I'm still happy that it even exists.
And given everything that crystals actually can do, much less what people claim they're capable of, is it any wonder they're so stuck up?
3845565 I'm sure some of them are more down to earth...But once you've been cut and polished and put through so many different procedures, I suppose it's natural to think highly of yourself.
3845618
It's like an expensive private school. The process is harsh and more than a little traumatic, but they come out of it ready for the apex of society.
Hmm... this then begs the question as to whether or not it would be possible to create a Crystalline data storage device, using a crystal's ability to store light or radiation to keep bits of data. Of course, I'm no geologist, so I don't know how plausible the idea would be. Nor how practical.
I like to imagine now that the Crystal Empire's back, there are a bunch of doctors there worried about the health of the citizenry, because a bunch of loony pseudo-science ideas like "chemical combinations made into a pill by scientists can treat disease" are coming in from Equestria, rather than the rigorously tested healing crystals that have been used in the Empire for centuries.
Sometimes it's just fun to pretend that crystals have magical powers and incense can drive away the evils that plague you. It's almost like immersing yourself in your own little fantasy world. The trouble is all too often people don't want to come back out of it.
When I was a kid I built a crystal radio, and it was magic to me. But I'm also the type who has to know why, so I bugged my teacher until she went through the higher-level book I had on the subject, and helped explain some of the terms and concepts I hadn't learned yet.
And when I understood what was really going on... it was even more magical!
People who like the healing power of crystals, are often the sort who refuse to accept when its shown copper and silver kill bacteria because they are toxic heavy metals, or the CPU in the DNA sequencer analysing the protien structure of a cancer cell is powered by an ultra pure chunk of silicon, contaminated in precice patterns by tiny fractions of certain other atoms, then thos are linked together by metallic inclusion in even more complex extensive branching patterns.
Hm, I thought dosimeters were mostly electrically charged (checks Wiki). Oh, I'm so out of date. I was thinking of Quartz fiber dosimeters, which is what we used around the KSU nuclear pile, with film badges for the long-term staff, but that was back when film went into cameras. (reads a little) Darnit, I feel like one of my half-lifes has gone by since I knew this stuff.
I've noticed a tendency of human beings to latch onto certain really odd and totally unscientific memes, and cling to them afterwards regardless of how much evidence to the contrary exists. If you don't believe me, try talking to a global climate change advocate about the Maunder Minimum, or a 9/11 conspiracy buff about the Popular Mechanics report, or even a native of Lawrence about how the KU football team really sucks.
3845648
You mean raises the question. Begging the question is treating a disputed point as true:
One could use crystals for storing data. I can imagine Worm (Write Once, Read Many) for long-term storage of data working thus:
One grows corundum ((Al2O3 (Aluminum Oxide (sapphires and rubies are corundum stained blue and red by impurities)) into a platter the size of a CD. One uses UV-Lasers to create patterns of disruptions in the crystals. One could read back the data using the UV-Laser at lower power. The platter could hold terabytes of data and be stable for myriads (a myriad is 10,000) of years in a typical vault.
3845565
I thought this was fresh, but I could well be wrong. There must be more bullshit on my blog than I realised.
3846107
There's something magic about being able to put together a simple circuit and listen to voices transmitted in another country... At least it was before the internet age.