Magnesium crystals (vapour deposited/lab grown)

Magnesium crystals (vapour deposited/lab grown)

These unusual structures are vapour deposited Magnesium crystals, grown during a material process called the 'Pidgeon process'.

It's interesting - the process was named after the chemist Lloyd Montgomery Pidgeon, but I think it's fair to say the crystals do actually resemble a 'feathery' wing, so I can imagine people thinking it was the pigeon process all along. They are feather/wing shaped, in a silvery metal, but seem almost bizarrely light for their size - you wouldn't think it was a metal from the weight!

Magnesium does have the lowest specific gravity of most 'commonly used' metals, but its quite different when you realise just how light these are.

They are sometimes sold as magnesium ore - this isn't really right, they are vapour deposited crystals formed after the grinding, smelting and dissolution of Dolomite.

You can read more about the process at Wikipedia.