I took this photo while working on the "Micro-Crystals" video, and thought this might be a challenge. What common chemical is this? Hint: The colors are from polarizing filters. The crystals are normally clear.
Answer:
These are sugar crystals, seen through a microscope at 40X magnification, with polarized filters. The polarized filters cause the colors through a process called birefringence. Without the filters, the crystals are clear.
The Growing Crystals Under the Microscope video includes some video of the sugar crystals, as well as other crystals growing.
Non-subscriber
