Maybe you’ve heard this joke: “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer is “one bite at a time.”
(A) Common crystal habits include squares, triangles, and six-sided hexagons. Usually crystals form when liquids cool, such as when you create ice cubes. Many times, crystals form in ways that do not allow for perfect shapes. If conditions are too cold, too hot, or there isn’t enough source material, they can form strange, twisted shapes.
(B) So, how do you “build” the Earth? That’s simple, too: one atom at a time. Atoms are the basic building blocks of crystals, and since all rocks are made up of crystals, the more you know about atoms, the better. Crystals come in a variety of shapes that scientists call habits.
(C) But when conditions are right, we see beautiful displays. Usually, this involves a slow, steady environment where the individual atoms have plenty of time to join and fit perfectly into what’s known as the crystal lattice. This is the basic structure of atoms that is seen time after time.