Chemical Crystal Digital Video Gallery
Chemical compounds can exist in three basic phases, gaseous, liquid, or solid. Gases consist of weakly bonded atoms and expand to fill any available space. Solids are characterized by strong atomic bonding and have a rigid shape. Most are crystalline, having a three-dimensional periodic atomic arrangement. Some, such as glass, lack this periodic arrangement and are noncrystalline, or amorphous. Liquids have characteristics that fall in between gases and solids. This cinemicrographic collection shows time-lapse videos of various chemical compounds as they change physical states.
Acetylcholine Chloride
Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter that is responsible for gated binding control of cation channels to allow inflow of sodium into muscle cells.
Ammonium Persulfate
Ammonium persulfate crystals are used as an alternative to traditional ferric chloride solutions for copper etching.
N-bromosuccinimide
Used by the pharmaceutical and chemical industries as an intermediary, N-bromosuccinimide serves as an oxidizing agent.
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Cholesteryl Acetate
For animals, cholesterol is essential to life, a primary component of the membrane that surrounds every cell.
Dideoxyinosine (DDI)
Didanosine is marketed in the United States and Canada under the trade name Videx.
DDT
One of the most effective, if deadly, pesticides, this organochlorine insecticide is certainly the most historically significant, due to its effects on the environment.
Laetrile
Originally marketed during the 1920s by the famous biochemist Forest T. Krebs, Laetrile is a very controversial treatment for cancer.
Niacinamide
Niacin (Vitamin B3) is commonly known as nicotinamide in the biochemical community and plays a role in the biosynthesis of pyridine nucleotides.
Picolinic Acid
Picolinic acid is the body's prime natural chelator of the vital trace elements chromium, zinc, manganese, copper, iron, and molybdenum.
Piperazine
Piperazine is an anthelmintic drug used in the treatment of endoparasitic "worm" infestations in humans and domestic animals.
Piperidone
The piperidones are a family of organic chemicals characterized by a 6-carbon ring having a substituted nitrogen and a double-bonded oxygen atom.
RU-486 (Mifepristone)
Dubbed the "French abortion pill" and the "month after pill", the pharmaceutical RU-486 was released to wide acceptance in Europe.