Puzzles in 'Crystallography News'

Puzzles from 'Crystallography News' in this file:

Page last updated 17 Dec 2000

Prize Competition No 53 June 1995

While away your summer holidays relaxing and writing limericks on a crystallographic theme, such as this example:

There was a young lady from Bristol
Who grew a most beautiful crystal
Its structure she found
Was cubic not round
That smart little lady from Bristol

A prize of a �10 book token is offered for the best one submitted by a member of the BCA to the editor of 'Crystallography News' before 5th August 1995.

You may submit as many entries as you wish, and are encouraged to add appropriate illustrations. The winning entry will be published in the next issue, with as many others as space permits.


Page last updated 19 May 1995

September 95 Competitions

ESRF Young Europeans

To celebrate the X-ray Centenary, the ESRF is organising a competition for young Europeans from 15 to 25 years old, who have to write an essay of 2 of 3 pages, (about 1000 words) on the subject "Imagine an Application for X-rays in the future".

Entries should be sent with your name, age, and
address to: ESRF, X-ray Competition, BP220, F-38043 Grenoble cedex, France.

before 30 September 1995 A jury of European scientists and journalists will select the 12 best entries. Winners will be invited to Grenoble for 3 days (24-26 Nov 1995) when they will visit the ESRF and associated laboratories, follow an experiment carried out by a large industrial firm and be able to perform an experiment themselves under the guidance of ESRF scientists.

Additional information will be sent on request to the ESRF ( address above)

Prize Competition No 54 September 1995

What's in a Name?

A prize of a £10.00 book token is offered for the longest list of words which can be made from the letters of the 2 words: 'CRYSTALLOGRAPHY NEWS'.

Please list your words in alphabetical order to simplify checking. Send your entries to the editor of 'Crystallography News', P.O.Box 64, Didcot, Oxon OX11 0SE
or via email to [email protected]

Rules:

1. Words must have at least 7 letters

2. Words must be in the 'Concise Oxford Dictionary'

3. Plurals made by adding an 's' will be ignored

4. In the event of a tie, the entry with the longest word will win

5. Last date for entries: 3rd November 1995

6. Editor's decision is final. No correspondence will be entered into.

Suggestions for other Competitions welcomed. I have a few ideas, but am happy to consider yours. A £10 Book Token will be awarded for all published competitions.

Prize Competition No 55 December 1995

Peter Seymour of the Russell Society has compiled this devilishly hard word square for your amusement. (Yes, I do know it is not square!) A prize of £10 is offered for the first correct solution received by the editor. If you fancy a challenge, try finding the 44 minerals and elements without looking at the list below. The usual rules apply, letters must be adjacent running in one direction, but they can be read forwards, backwards, or diagonally.




B L E N D E T I L E Y A H L E D M 

L E D I O P S I D E V E T Y A E C  

E T I R U C O P P N T O F L D I A  

P A X I T E R L Z I P E Y R U K L  

I H A L I T E I N A O I D I R U C  

D Z E S H W U R Z I T E B A O Y I  

O Y B N I I A C E E O D E I J T T  

M R O K A L J T O R B E R N I T E  

E U R D O K I F L F E R Y N R R T  

L C A A L M I S I Z R R L J O O I  

A R X W U A E T T I M U L A N C L  

N E E I Q N R X E N O T I M E R O  

E M T Q U I V E L C R I W U L A Y  

M A Y I K T R A M U I L E T S S R  

L O R H N E P U B E T E T P O I C 

E T A C U O Z Y A T E R I U F T L 

A D B I A L I T E K T N B R I E A  

D L O G E T I R O N E T L U J A T  

E T I Y B X I B E L G U A T S P E

Note : although individual letters may be in more than one word, the whole word should not be contained within another; 'iron' can be found spelt backwards in 'tenorite' but that is not the correct solution.

44 Minerals and Elements to find:

borax zinc opal iron rutile
lead dalyite erionite albite
delhayelite phenakite latiumite ruby mercury
tenorite torbernite wad jade xenotime
yttrocrasite halite emerald tin wurzite
calcite lepidomelane baryte wilkmanite gold
spinel beryl zircon bialite topaz
larnite diopside blende bixbyite cryolite
tobermorite paxite talc curite alum

I enjoyed this word square myself. You try it!

Prize Competition No 56 March 1996

Name the Crystal

photo

This is a multi-part competition:

  1. Identify the location, (town and English county) of this interesting collection of new crystal forms; they appear in regular arrays, most often in the twinned habit shown, although single specimens are also found. They are usually attached to this long (hydrophobic ?) tail
  2. suggest a mineral which crystallises in this polyhedral form
  3. name the polyhedral form.

Send your entries to the editor by 4th May 1996.

Prize Competition No 57 June 1996

Where, when, who?
This was a competition to identify people in an old photograph. Sadly, copyright restrictions prevent me putting it on our WEb site

Prize Competition No 58 September 1996

A crystallographic Colouring book

puzzle plot

In the box above, * marks a point in an incomplete crystallographic diagram. Use your imagination to complete the picture. Make a copy of this page before you start doodling.

The usual prize of a £10 book token will be awarded to the entrant who submits to the editor the largest number of plausible completed diagrams together with a sentence for each one explaining its crystallographic significance. A selection of the entries will be published in a future issue of 'Crystallography News'.

Deadlinefor entries: First post (snail mail) 1st November 1996

Prize Competition No 59 December 1996

Mirror symmetry

mirror parts

Now look at the diagram in the box and decide where you can place a mirror to see each of the numbered patters. The Competition is to draw the mirror lines on the boxed diagram for those which you think can be made, and decide which ones are impossible. If you want a real challenge, do it without the mirror. A prize of a £10 book token is offered to the first correct entry picked out of a hat on 8th February 1997. Send you entries to the editor at the address overleaf.

I am grateful to Marion Walters for permission to reproduce this puzzle from her collection in 'The Mirror Puzzle Book', available from Tarquin Publications, Stradbroke, Diss, Norfolk, IP21 5JP, tel: (01379) 384 218 price £2.70 if you would like to try more puzles.

Prize Competition No 60 March 1997

Caption Competition and Leeds walkabout

What is Bob Cernik (DL) saying? A prize of a £10 book token is offered for the best caption received by the editor before 2nd May 1997. Send your entries to the address overleaf; a selection of the entries will be printed in the next newsletter.
Bob Cernik
Photo courtesy of CRLC newsletter.

Leeds walkabout

Leeds walkabout:
Those of you who are coming to the Annual BCA meeting in April, may like to take a little exercise at the lunch breaks and search for these memorial tablets which are all on the campus. Thanks to Mark Thornton-Pett for finding them all.
Bragg memorials

Prize Competition No 61 June 1997

List the Prizewinners

This month's competition arises out of an email I had recently asking for help with a student project by sending the enquirer a list of all the Nobel Prize Winners in Crystallography. Unfortunately I did not have a list, so I am asking you to help me to help to educate any future enquirers by making a list for me. A �10 book token will be awarded for the most complete and appropriate list of Nobel Prize Winners whose work can be classed as relevant to crystallography. I do not just want a list of all the winners in Physics and Chemistry, only those of crystallographic interest. Extra information such as titles of relevant books, or URL of associated Web sites will be useful Entries should list the Prize winner's name, which Prize it was, the year of the award and the subject of the research. Entries should be submitted to the editor at the address on the next page before midnight on 1st August 1997.

Prize Competition No 62 September 1997

Prove Kepler's Conjecture?

On 28 June 1997 the 'New Scientist' published an article stating that in 1611 Kepler wrote a paper concluding that the most efficient way to stack cannonballs was in what we now call a face centred cubic lattice.
cubic packing

(page 30 'Packing them in' by Simon Singh a TV producer) Apparently Kepler merely stated that this arrangement was the best one he had found; after nearly 400 years some people are still trying to prove there is no other more efficient one. This was a great surprise to me, since I assumed it had been proved long ago. Do you know of any attempts to prove it? A £10 book token is offered for the best explanation of how people have tried to prove it, or a list of references to published papers on the topic. Replies to the editor at the address on the next page by the deadline for publication of the next issue.

Prize Competition No 63 December 1997

List educational Internet sites

Surf the Internet to win a valuable textbook The Oxford University Press have generously donated the prize for this educational competition, a paperback copy of 'The Basics of Crystallography and Diffraction', reviewed on an earlier page in this issue. The competition is to make an educational Web page for the BCA site, with working links to educational crystallographic World Wide Web sites and as much explanatory text and diagrams as you think necessary. The sites may be for the general public trying to explain the uses of crystallography, ( for example 'What's inside your quartz watch', or 'Good recipes for Growing Crystals') or for undergraduates, such things as an explanation of Fourier Transforms. Remember that some people will have little old computers with slow lines and early versions of browsers, so write for the earliest possible version of HTML which can show your pages well. The winner will be the person who submits the best page to the editor, preferably by email to [email protected] on or before 6 February 1998.

Editor's Note: Although the deadline above is long past I am always happy to receive news of educational sites. Please send them to the

BCA Home page WebMaster [email protected]
at any time

Prize Competition No 64 March 1998

Name the Mineral

This is a multi-part competition to advertise the National Minerals Week which starts in London on 22 June and continues at various locations throughout the summer.
The diagram below represents a particular form of a common mineral. The competition is to identify the mineral giving its name and that of this common form, say where it is found and what are its main uses. Entries to the editor at the address overleaf by 8th May 1998. The prize is a �10 book token.
mystery mineral
You may get some inspiration by copying and enlarging this page, and then constructing your own paper mineral, by cutting round the solid outline, bending along the dotted lines and sticking the tabs to the other sides.

Prize Competition No 65 June 1998

Define the TLAs

Authors happily use three letter acronyms (TLAs) in their articles without realising that their readers may not all be familiar with the meanings. The list below contains common (?) abbreviations with 3, 4 or even 5 letters, which have all appeared in 'Crystallography News', and one which the author assures me is a trade name, so he cannot define it.
The competition is to identify the 'trade name' and define the others. In the event of a tie, preference will be given to those who produce several definitions for the same TLA, preferably associated with crystallography in some way. (There is one of these in this issue.) Credit will also be given for additional appropriate TLAs and their definitions to form a glossary for use by the editor and future authors of 'Crystallography News'.

AERE, AGM, BBSRC, BCA, BSG, CCDC, CCG, CCLRC, CD, CIF, CLRC, CP/MAS, DL, DOS, DSC, ECA, ECC, ECM, EPS, EPSRC, EXAFS, GMR , HRPD, HSE, HTML, ICDD, ICI, IG, ILL, IOP, ISBN, ISO, IUCr, IUPAC, LAD, MAD, MRC, MRD, NMR, ODF, PC, PCG, PDB, PDF. PR, PSD, RAL. RISC, RSC, SAXS, SERC, SRC, STM, TGA, UV, WAXS, WWW, XAFS, XANES, XRD, XRF

Entries to the editor at the address overleaf by 7th August 1998. To simplify an electronic entry you can find the list on the BCA web site in the section on 'Crystallography News' at URL http://gordon.cryst.bbk.ac.uk/BCA/CNews/TLAs.html. The prize is a £10 book token.
Editors' note: This is a continual problem, please look at the list, or any isue of 'Crystallography News' critically and tell me of further meanings for and TLAs you find. 31 March 99

Prize Competition No 66 September 1998

List UK Crystallographers

Since there were no entries for the last competition, 'Define the TLAs', I have decided to 'roll-over' the prize because I need your help and advice. The winner of this competition will receive a �20 book token. On an earlier page I explained that I am preparing a list of UK scientists, either crystallographers, or people without whom crystallography today would be very different. The winner will be the person who submits the best list to me at the address overleaf by 6th November 1998. For each scientist give as complete a name as possible, relevant dates, birth, death, when they did the work (approximately), a sentence explaining why they are listed, and location(s) associated with them or their work. I hope to turn this into a UK tourist guide to crystallographic sites. Any extra information is welcome, for example an OS Grid Reference to enable people to find the location, telephone numbers of museums, a bibliographic reference to the work done, or the URL of a Web site for further information, etc.

Prize Competition No 67 December 1998

December Competition - Rocky questions for Set99?

A Mineral Quiz on calcite and calcareous rocks.

1. Carbonates, such as calcite, can be identified by the application of a small drop of dilute hydrochloric acid. This causes the mineral to:
a. Change colour. b. Fizz or effervesce. c. Smell of garlic.

2. Chalk is formed mainly from the calcite skeletons of millions of tiny sea creatures.
What are these fossils called. a. Coccoliths. b. Cockerels. e. Cocoons.

3. When a piece of calcite is broken it forms crystals which display a perfect cleavage. What shape are these crystals? a. Cubic. b. Rhombohedral. c. Hexagonal.

4. The softest mineral is talc, with a hardness of 1, and the hardest is diamond with a hardness of 10. Where does calcite come in the Moh's Scale of Hardness.? a.3. b.5. c.8.

5. Which of these rocks is formed from calcite? a. Granite. b. Limestone. c. Slate.

6. The chemical composition of calcite is calcium carbonate. Which of these is the correct chemical formula? a. CaSO4 b.CaCO3 c.BaCO3

7. When a calcareous rock is metamorphosed it forms? a.Slate. b.Basalt. c.Marble.

8. Fossilferous limestone is often formed from the calcareous remains of extinct animals some of which are over 500 million years old.
Where did these animals live? a. In the forest b. In the ground. c. ln the sea.

9. Structures often form on the roofs of limestone caves from dripping water rich in calcium carbonate dissolved from the overlying rocks. What is the name of these structures?
a. Stalagmites. b.Stagnates. c. Stalactites.

10. What is the name of the small rounded grains in some limestones which are formed by the deposition of calcium carbonate in successive layers around a small nuclei? a.Ooliths. b.Oodles. c. Otoliths.


This month's competition is about rocks to draw your attention to the BBC TV series about geology and it's accompanying website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/rocks I am grateful to the South East Branch of the Russell Society (tel (0181) 650 5566) for a copy of the questions and permission to reprint them here. They were used in conjunction with an educational exhibit on minerals during the National Science Week in March 1998. Entries to the Editor at the address overleaf by 5th Feb 1999. A prize of a £10 book token is offered for the 1st correct entry drawn out of a hat by an eminent crystallographer.

Prize Competition No 68 March 1999

This word square contains 35 common crystallographic words which can be found in any undergraduate textbook. The usual rules apply, letters must be on adjacent squares running in one direction, horizontally, vertically or diagonally, they can be read forwards or backwards. Some letters occur in more than one word You might set it as a test for your students, find the words and define their meaning. In addition there is a 'tie-breaker', a 6 letter word, nothing to do with crystallography. You have to find this word and define it. A prize of a �10 book token is offered for the first correct solution received by the editor from a BCA member before 7 May 1999. 

     C D I C R F O L A C O R P I C E R Z Y I

     G I E N I L F F A C E C E N T R E D U K 

     U L N K V N T E T R A G O N A L N Z X K 

     Z A I I C E O W I G D R O T A T I O N I 

     G D G D L A R I B S Y E Z K D X L D I K 

     X W A W E C P S D I I V H Y M A P N I S 

     Y M R I O P I E I A A X R A I Z B I N C 

     L C A M D R L R S O T X A T R J U A T I 

     A A I T O T T A T O N N I W F T C B E N 

     N D R B R T R H N L L T E A E E E Y N I 

     O I B D M A I A O E S C X P L R R T S L 

     G F K C E A N F N R N O V A D T C J I C  

     I F T I P H I S E S H O N C E A H S T O 

     R R W C E I O T L D F O Z M I F I F Y N 

     T A I F C B N B A A G O M F P B E R J O  

     P C N A I I A X M A T Y R B F O U P T M  

     Y T N U T W E B X O S I A M I E W C U E 

     V I I L T H P E T P H Q O M W C T D K U 

     X O N T A Y H N G H W R S N Q J P M E M

     R N G S L C D L R S P A C E G R O U P R

Prize Competition No 69 June 1999


A Scottish Quiz for June 99

I am grateful to Liz Duke, Daresbury Laboratory, for this quiz designed to act as a taster for all things Scottish in preparation for the IUCr meeting in Glasgow this summer. She has offered a most desirable prize to encourage you all to enter. (see later.)

There are 4 sections, each with 8 questions plus a final poser on Scottish Cuisine.

SECTION 1: HISTORY

  1. Who won the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297?
  2. Who won the Battle of Bannock Burn in 1314?
  3. Who won the Battle of Flodden in 1513?
  4. Who won the Battle of Culloden in 1746?
  5. Who won the Calcutta Cup in the 1990 Five Nations to achieve the Grand Slam?
  6. In what year was the first Scottish Parliament?
  7. In what year were the crowns of Scotland and England united?
  8. In what year were the parliaments of Scotland and England united?

SECTION 2: UISGE BEATHA (Water of life)

  1. Which distillery is the most northerly?
  2. Which island has the most number of distilleries?
  3. Which distillery is the highest above sea level?
  4. Which distillery is the most northerly on the mainland?
  5. Which was the first distillery to obtain a Royal Warrant?
  6. Which is the only distillery on Skye?
  7. Which was the first distillery to "go legal"?
  8. Which loch has often been said to have been made of whisky?

SECTION 3: GEOGRAPHY

  1. Which is the second highest mountain in Scotland?
  2. What is the name given to mountains between 2500ft and 3000ft?
  3. On which island is John Smith buried?
  4. What is the most northerly habitation in Scotland?
  5. What is the most northerly point of Scotland and the British Isles?
  6. Which island was used to test biological warfare in the second world war?
  7. Which island has the largest area?
  8. What is the name of Scotland's only lake?

SECTION 4: MISCELLANEOUS

  1. Which woods are reputed to have walked?
  2. Where do "local heroes" call from?
  3. Which castle links Macbeth to the Queen Mother?
  4. Where is Hamish Macbeth's beat?
  5. Where did Dr. Finlay live?
  6. What is the name of Britain's only charted whirlpool?
  7. Where was the discoverer of chloroform's anaesthetic properties born?
  8. Which island has "whisky galore"?

AND FINALLY ... (the correct answer to this is not required to win the prize)

Which of the following delicacies would you not be surprised to find in a Scottish chip shop?

    1. deep fried mars bar
    2. deep fried jaffa cake
    3. deep fried snickers bar
    4. deep fried pizza

Answers should be returned to Liz Duke (Daresbury Laboratory, Keckwick Lane, Warrington, Cheshire. WA4 4AD, email: [email protected]) by 15th July 1999. Completely correct solutions will be entered into a draw to win a half botstle of Scottish malt whisky.

The answers will be available at the BCA stand in the IUCr exhibition area in Glasgow and published in the September 1999 issue of 'Crystallography News'.

Prize Competition No 70 Sept 1999


Find the Favourite Quotation for September 1999

Here is a favourite quotation from a chemistry text book kindly sent in by Bob Gould, University of Edinburgh, who received a £10 book token for his efforts. You have to decipher the text and guess the author and the book. If that proves too difficult, just send in the English text.

A £10 book token will be awarded to the first correct solution received by the editor at the address overleaf naming the author and the title of the book, as well as deciphering the text. If there are no completely correct solutions the prize will be awarded to the first entry with the deciphered text. 


BGA  FBLIDBILCN  DGAJHFBLO  EM  ANAJAPBCN  QGEFQGELIF  HF  C  



DEJARO  EM ALLELF  EP  SGHDG  BGA  MHPCN  DILBCHP  GCF  PEB  OAB  



RAFDAPRAR.   FEJA  EM  BGA  CNNEBLEQAF  SGHDG  GCUA  TAAP  



QLEQEFAR  CLA,  CF  SHNN  TA  FAAP,  EM  RITHEIF  UCNHRHBO.   



HP  BGA  RHFDIFFHEP  SGHDG  MENNESF  BGA  UCLHEIF  MELJF CLA  



DEPFHRALAR  HP  ELRAL  EM  HPDLACFHPV  DEPMIFHEP  SHBG  LAVCLR  



BE  BGAHL  FBLIDBILAF.

Puzzle- Where were these diagrams printed?

The early crystallographers had a highly developed visual acuity due to their spending a lot of time looking at diffraction spots on film and trying to see what structures made them. Modern computers do most of this work for you, so I have devised this puzzle for you to ponder over in your coffee breaks. The diagram below contains many logos and other diagrams which have all appeared in 'Crystallography News' since I became editor. How many diagrams are there? Whose logos are they? I have removed the letters from some of them, to give you more of a challenge. Sorry, no book token prize this time, the answers will be posted on the BCA Web Site before 1 January 2001. Click here to see the diagrams.

BCA Home page WebMaster [email protected]
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