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Calcium carbonate is everywhere. From seashells to eggshells to antacid medicine, it is one of the most abundant minerals on our planet. But scientists still don’t agree on how it forms its many unique crystal structures. Researchers at the University of Geneva created a new technique to study them, which could provide some answers to this long-debated question. 

Source article: 
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Crystal Growth & Design
Corresponding author: Natercia Barbosa, Ph.D.

Video credits:
Written and produced by Vangie Koonce
Editing and animations by Darren Weaver
Narrated by Jefferson Beck

Series produced by Vangie Koonce, Anne Hylden, Andrew Sobey, and Jefferson Beck
Executive produced by Matthew Radcliff
Research videos and images from Natercia Barbosa, Ph.D., and Takuji B. M. Adachi, Ph.D.
Additional video: Getty Images and Shutterstock
Sound effects: Soundsnap
Music: “You Know You Want Some (Instrumental)� by Tony Longworth from Triple Scoop Music

Transcript

This is calcium carbonate. So is this. And this, and this, and all of these. So, how does the same compound form so many wildly different crystal structures with wildly different properties? It's one of the most abundant minerals on Earth and one of the most-studied systems in science. And yet, researchers still don't agree on how calcium carbonate crystals form. So scientists at the University of Geneva crystallized as many forms of calcium carbonate as possible to develop a new method that's better at identifying all of these polymorphs and tracking when and how they appear. Combining Raman spectroscopy with a traditional microscope, they were able to analyze the visible crystal shapes and atomic-level structure at the same time. This revealed that a single polymorph can have several unique shapes, and different polymorphs can have the same shape. This ingenious method will allow scientists to better understand how this single compound arranges itself in such a fascinating array of forms. And it could help resolve a long-standing debate within the scientific community.