Multimedia Gallery
Waiken's Wonders
"Waiken's Wonders." Like water vapor forming snowflakes, some polymers can crystallize in a similar way, starting from one point and growing outwards in all directions. They are like spheres of crystals. To fill space, they grow into each other, forming the polyhedrons (multi-sided figures). With polymers, a similar type of crystallization can occur and the structures that you see are called spherulites. If you look at these in a polarizing microscope, the Maltese cross pattern is seen. By manipulating the light, different colors can be used to provide information of the structure of these crystals.
More about this Image
This imagery provides a unique avenue by which an interest and appreciation of scientific research can be nurtured. It is precisely this concept that underpins VISUAL (Ventures in Science Using Art Laboratory), a recently launched educational outreach program of the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center on Polymers (MRSEC) (supported by the National Science Foundation's Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers Program) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. VISUAL is based on the premise that the visual arts can serve as an effective means to stimulate, educate and promote materials science research to the general public and to students of all ages.
Credit: VISUAL, Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
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