Million Whys Press logo
Million Whys PressToronto
← Book 27 videos

Book 27, Question 4

Why does the same crystal always have the same angles?

That happens because the faces follow the lattice inside, and the lattice never changes.

In 1669, a Danish scientist named Nicolas Steno measured quartz crystals from many places and noticed that the angle between two matching faces was always the same, no matter how big or small the crystal. Mineral experts still use these angles as clues to identify crystals.

Why I wrote this