Revealing nano big bang: Scientists observe the first milliseconds of crystal formation New study shows how stable materials have unstable beginnings Date: March 25, 2021 Source: DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Summary: Scientists recruited a world-leading microscope to capture atomic-resolution, high-speed images of gold atoms self-organizing, falling apart, and then reorganizing many times before settling into a stable, ordered crystal. When we grow crystals, atoms first group together into small clusters -- a process called nucleation. But understanding exactly how such atomic ordering emerges from the chaos of randomly moving atoms has long eluded scientists. Classical nucleation theory suggests that crystals form one atom at a time, steadily increasing the level of order. Modern studies have also observed a two-step nucleation process, where a temporary, high-energy structure forms first, which then changes into a stable crystal. But according to a...