PHOTO ALBUMS of the Small School of Crystallography by Krešimir Molčanov can be found HERE and by Aleksandar Višnjevac HERE.
WHERE: “Zvane Črnje” High School, Carduccijeva 20, 52210 Rovinj
WHEN: Monday, November 9, 2015 and Tuesday, November 10, 2015
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Official website of the City of Rovinj, Official website of the Zvane Črnje High School
Goal
To introduce crystallography and mineralogy to students of the “Zvane Črnje” High School and encourage them to think about the advantages of choosing natural sciences as a life calling. To explain the importance of knowing the structure of matter, in light of the direct connection between structure and properties/activity.
Note
The Croatian Association of Crystallographers is organizing this school seminar as a token of gratitude for the hospitality of the Zvane Črnje High School during the 29th European Crystallographic Congress in Rovinj, namely its satellite workshop “Advanced software development for crystallographers”, 20-22-08-2015. The Croatian Association of Crystallographers has already donated a meteorological station worth 4,000.00 kn to the School.
Organizing Committee/Lecturers:
- Dr. Aleksandar Višnjevac, CAC president
- Dr. Marijana Đaković
- Dr. Vladimir Stilinović (module 1 and module 2)
- Dr. Krešimir Molčanov (module 1 and module 2)
- Dr. Nenad Tomašić (module 3)
- Dr. Ana Šantić (module 4)
- Dr. Zoran Štefanić (module 5)
Programme
Monday, November 9, 2015
9:00 – 9:15
Opening of the Little Crystallography School
(A. Višnjevac)
9:15 – 10:00
Module 1
(lecture, V. Stilinović)
Snow White and the Seven Crystal Systems
What are crystals? Who first noticed them? When, how, and why did people start studying them, and what did they conclude? In the introductory lecture, we will learn about the basic properties of crystals and review more than two millennia of ingenious discoveries and persistent misconceptions in their study.
10:00 – 10:15
Small break
10:15 – 11:45
Module 1
(practical teaching, K. Molčanov)
Workshop on symmetry and “classical” crystallography with models of crystals from all crystal systems and some symmetrical objects from everyday life. What is chirality? Chirality in nature (e.g., snails), in everyday life (e.g., screws), and chirality in chemistry and crystallography.
11:45 – 13:45
Lunch break
13:45 – 14:30
Module 2
(lecture, K. Molčanov)
What is in crystals?
What is diffraction? What are electromagnetic waves? Why do we not see atoms with a microscope? Why do we see them with X-ray diffraction? How does X-ray diffraction work? Various types of instruments, such as the great discoveries of X-ray crystallography in the last 100 years. X-ray crystallography in chemistry and biology.
14:30 – 15:45
Module 2
(practical classes, Vl. Stilinović)
The phenomenon of diffraction will be demonstrated using everyday examples, and a sketch will be made of how diffraction data can be used to calculate geometric parameters describing the structure of the object on which the diffraction occurred. For example, by laser diffraction on a DVD, we can measure the distance between individual ‘grooves’ of a DVD, just as by X-ray diffraction on a crystal, we can measure the distances between atoms in a crystal. In the following, we will look at what some crystal structures look like and what regularities we can observe in them.
15:45 – 16:15
Coffee break
16:15 – 17:00
Module 3
(lecture, N. Tomašić)
Crystallography Laboratory in Nature: The Wonderful World of Minerals
How and where crystals form in nature: from magma, seas, lakes, and rivers to deserts, hot solutions, and steam. What are minerals, and where do we find them? What types of minerals are there, and what groups do we divide them into? Do all minerals have beautiful crystals, and can we produce them in the laboratory?
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
9:00 – 10:00
Module 3
(practical part, N. Tomašić)
Crystallographic laboratory in nature: That wonderful world of minerals
Getting to know some common mineral types. Prof. Tomašić will show the students minerals from the GFZ collection, and they will discuss them.
10:00 – 10:15
Small break
10:15 – 11:00
Module 4
(lecture, A. Šantić)
Glass and the world of (dis)order
What are glasses, and how are they made? Do we find glasses in nature, or are they only made by humans? What are the types of glasses, what is their structure, and what methods do we use to determine their structure? What are their properties, and why are glasses all around us?
11:00 – 12:00
Module 4
(practical teaching, A. Šantić)
Introduction to some physical properties of glasses, demonstration of glass melting.
12:00 – 13:30
Lunch break
14:30 – 15:30
Module 5
(lecture, Z. Štefanić)
How do we see protein structures with X-rays?
Proteins are extremely important for the entire living world. To understand what they do and how they perform their function in our body, we need to know what they look like. We cannot see them with any microscope, no matter how much it magnifies. But here again, X-rays come to our aid. In the lecture, several examples of proteins that play important roles in the human body will be shown using the PyMOL visualization program. We will learn which building blocks all proteins in our body are made of and what amazing shapes they can form.
13:30 – 14:15
Module 5
(practical part, computer workshop, Z.Štefanić)
In an interactive workshop, students would try to visualize the structure of a protein themselves, set up some basic display methods, and measure distances between atoms. For this, computers would be needed (at least one per group of two or three students).
15:30 – 16:00
Coffee break
16:00 – 17:00
Discussions, impressions, ideas and closing of the workshop
(M. Đaković)