STEP TWO - GET YOUR STARTING MATERIAL

This year we will be using Aluminum Potassium Sulfate kindly donated by Anachemia Science.

To order your material, call Anachemia directly at 1-800-361-0209 from September 10 to October 5.

1.  Ask for Catalogue Number 03324-310 Aluminum Potassium Sulfate
They will ship 500 g of it directly to you.
One 500 g bottle is FREE

2.  You must also provide a Purchase Order Number from your school. The school will be invoiced $14 to cover the shipping costs.  Home schools need to identify themselves accordingly.  Home schools will be processed as a cash sale and the minimum cash sale amount will be waived.

NOTE: Only teachers may order material, which must be shipped directly to a school along with your invoice. 

If you need more material order it at the same time.

NOTE: because of a limited supply available, schools will be limited to ONE EXTRA bottle. This second bottle will cost $11.35 (with no additional shipping charge).

STEP THREE - PREPARE YOUR CRYSTAL(S)

You are free to use any procedure you like to prepare crystals. For your convenience, suggested seed crystal growing procedures followed by detailed instructions are provided here.

Also included is background information and links to other web sites on crystals and general approaches to growing crystals.

The crystal growing period is from October 8 to November 12.

STEP 4 - HAVE YOUR CRYSTAL(s) JUDGED

Make arrangements with your Local Coordinator for your best crystal(s) to be judged. Regional judging will take place starting November 26.

Each school is encouraged to submit two crystals to the Local Coordinator; one for best quality and one for best overall. It is recognized that where several crystals from a school may be of roughly equivalent over-all quality, and it is difficult to make a choice, it may be necessary to submit several crystals. Of these several crystals from a particular school, only one may be the "official" crystal to be considered for all prize(s) awarded locally.

In late December, the best crystal from each Local Area will be sent for judging at the National Level. A Trophy and cash prizes are given to the students preparing the best crystals. Results will be announced in January 2008.

We thank BASF for donating prizes.

JUDGING CRITERIA

The idea is to grow a SINGLE CRYSTAL, not a bunch of crystals. It is therefore essential to avoid excessive rapid growth, which encourages the formation of multiple crystals, not a single crystal.

One single crystal will be judged only on the basis of quality as outlined below.

The other single crystal will be judged on the basis of combining mass and quality factors as outlined below.

The quality is judged by experts who will rank the crystals on a scale of 0-10. A score of 10 will be given to a perfect gem quality crystal which fits the ideal crystal structure known for the chemical.

1. The crystal is weighed, and the mass M recorded. The crystal must be a minimum of 0.5g to be eligible.

2. The quality of the crystal is judged on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 representing a perfect crystal.

The following factors will be considered in judging quality:
a) match/mismatch with crystal type (out of 2)
b) presence/absence of occlusions (out of 2)
c) intact/broken edges (out of 2)
d) well formed/misformed faces (out of 2)
e) clarity/muddiness (out of 2)

Total Observed Quality Q_o = x.xx (out of 10)

3. The Total Score is then determined as follows:

Total Score = [log (M_o+1)] x Q_o

The logarithm of the mass is chosen so that large poor quality crystals don't swamp out smaller good quality crystals.

The value 1 is added to the mass so that crystals weighing less than 1 g get a positive score.

A 100% yield crystal made from 100 g (M_t) that scores a perfect 10 on quality (Q_t) would get a theoretical maximum of

[log (100+1)] x 10 = 20.01

The actual score is expressed as a percentage of the maximum.
The crystal with the highest Overall Score % is the winning crystal.

100 x {[log (M_o+1)] x Q_o} / {[log (M_t+1)] x Q_t} = Overall Score %

For example, the best overall crystal in the 2001 Contest with 150 g starting material weighed 46.53 g and had a quality of 8.65. It's overall score was

100 x {[log (46.53+1)] x 8.65} / {[log (150+1)] x 10} = 66.6%

This score is nearly an absolute score that could be used to judge different types of crystals grown from differing amounts of starting material.

NATIONAL CONTEST DIVISIONS/CATEGORIES

There are four National Contest Divisions:

DIV. 1. = High School Students within the traditional CIC Local Sections (see List of Coordinators).

DIV. 2. = "Outlier" High School Students living outside the traditional CIC Local Sections. Chris Young is your coordinator and your crystals should be submitted directly to him for judging.

DIV. 3. = Home Schooled Students living outside the traditional CIC Local Sections. (see List of Coordinators for Gayle Remisch's address). Crystals should be submitted directly to Denis Bussiçres for judging. There are no age restrictions for this division.

The best of each of the above Divisions will be judged against each other.

DIV. 4. = High School Teachers. Crystals from ALL teacher should be submitted for judging.

There are three Categories: Best Quality Crystal (Q_o only) and Best Overall (Overall Score %) and Best Teacher.