There were almost 600 submissions this year, which made deciding the quarterfinalists particularly difficult. It was a pleasure to read everyone’s work. Because of its piezoelectric property, a quartz plate can be used as a pressure gauge, as in depth-sounding apparatus.We’re excited to announce our 2020 Feature Contest quarterfinalists! This year’s submissions displayed exceptional talent and creativity. The charges are proportional to the change in pressure. Quartz is piezoelectric: a crystal develops positive and negative charges on alternate prism edges when it is subjected to pressure or tension. Such phases have been observed in impact craters. At very high pressures alpha-quartz transforms into coesite and, at still higher pressures, stishovite. At temperatures above 867 ☌ (1,593 ☏), beta-quartz changes into tridymite, but the transformation is very slow because bond breaking takes place to form a more open structure. At the transition temperature the tetrahedral framework of beta-quartz twists, resulting in the symmetry of alpha-quartz atoms move from special space group positions to more general positions. The structure of alpha-quartz is trigonal, again with either a right- or left-handed symmetry group. The structure of beta-quartz is hexagonal, with either a left- or right-handed symmetry group equally populated in crystals. The two are closely related, with only small movements of their constituent atoms during the alpha-beta transition. Quartz exists in two forms: (1) alpha-, or low, quartz, which is stable up to 573 ☌ (1,063 ☏), and (2) beta-, or high, quartz, stable above 573 ☌. SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!.Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.

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An Army of Quartz by Jamie Verzaro