Nalco 8177 Guide

It was roughly the size of a , weighed 17.2 kg , and was flawlessly transparent with a faint opalescent sheen—like a giant shard of ice. The lab team was baffled. This was not supposed to be possible. Gibbsite (aluminium trihydroxide) normally forms microscopic, twinned, opaque crystals.

Why did it form? The leading theory, published in Nature (1999, Vol. 398): a unique organic surfactant from the local bauxite (possibly from decomposed laterite vegetation) acted as a at the exact moment a tiny seed crystal began growing. Then, an unprecedented 18-hour period of laminar flow and steady supersaturation allowed the crystal to grow laterally, not in powders. It was a one-in-a-billion statistical fluke. nalco 8177

Recovery teams collected 98% of the mass, but the crystal was irreparably destroyed. No single piece larger than a thumbnail remained intact. It was roughly the size of a , weighed 17

When rescue workers reached the debris, they found the container . NALCO 8177 had broken into hundreds of jagged fragments , scattered across the gravel and twisted metal. 398): a unique organic surfactant from the local