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Grandma's Yarn Crystals in glass
Grandma's Yarn
Apr, 2024

Perhaps nothing says “cozy” like an image of grandma in a rocking chair, knitting a blanket with a big basket of yarn at her feet. The bunches of crystals in this Scanning Electron Microscope image appear remarkably similar to jumbled skeins of yarn, but have a very different source. They were found inside a molybdenum blister created in the glass melt when boosting electrodes were exposed to air in the furnace. The crystals themselves are composed primarily of sodium molybdate with a smaller amount of calcium molybdate.