Influence of the solution layer thickness on crystallization
Abstract
In the "Annual of Geology and Mineralogy of Russia", in the article on “Crystallization in a solid medium,” I have already described an experiment on the transformation of a highly hydrated magnesium sulfate, which forms directly upon evaporation of the solution, into heptahydrate. In that account, I noted that the rapidly growing needles and fibers of the heptahydrate propagate at a seemingly equal rate both in the free solution and when penetrating the crystals of the higher hydrate (namely, MgSO₄ 12 aq). It must be assumed that such an extreme slowdown in the process in extra-thin layers occurs under the influence of partial capillary attractive forces of between the walls of the wedge-shaped space and its contents.
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