Is ice truly crystalline or just a jumble of microscopic structures?

[emotionalmachine]

When I freeze water it just seems to form a solid block, how can I go about making it so I can see crystals? Are there crystals in that block (do I need a microscope)?

 

[mrjeffy321]

There are crystals, you just can't see them. The longer it takes for it to freeze, the larger the crystals will be.

 

[Borek]

If the crystalization is very slow you can see crystals forming (especially on the surface) in the form of needles.

Chemical calculators at

 

[gravenewworld]

just look on your car windows in the winter time

 

[emotionalmachine]

What kind of microscope will I need?

 

[Borek]

To see crytsals on the window? None. To see crytsals forming in the water? None, they are large enough.

Where do you live? In smoe warmer place? Move north, you will see ice crystals on the windows every winter... Although they are slightly different from these forming in water, as they are in a way two dimensional - they are created in a very thin water film on the glass surface.

 

[Gokul43201]

Freeze a very thin sheeet of water; you will see crystallites.

 

[barneygumble742]

i think temperature change has a lot to do with the formation of visible crystals. in chem 2 lab we added a compound to water and heated it. then set the tubes in an ice bath (flask with ice (temp was like 0 degrees celcius)) and within seconds we saw ice crystals...very cool.

 

[Night Owl]

Here's an interesting question that fits into this thread. If I freeze water in my freezer, like in an ice cube rack, is the crystal structure completely random, somewhat organized, or truly crystalline in the sense of one overriding pattern?

I've never seen an ice cube break clean like other crystals, so I'm inclined to believe that an ice cube is a jumble of microscopic crystalline structures mish-mashed together to form one large coherent, but not truly crystalline, structure.

Is there more to it than that, and if so, what more is there?