The structure inside every grain of table salt

Rock salt - the first lattice every student ever draws.

The hardest natural material — pure carbon locked in a cubic lattice

Carbon, version one: the rigid tetrahedral network.

The soft, layered form of carbon in every pencil — and cousin to graphene

Graphite - carbon version two, and the perfect "same atoms, different structure" lesson.

The everyday crystal that covers polar caps and fills your glass

Water made visible - why ice floats, explained by its open hexagonal lattice.

One of Earth's most abundant minerals — the crystal in your watch and your windowsill

The mineral that connects chemistry, geology, and everyday glass.

The glittering iron sulfide crystal that fooled gold prospectors for centuries

Fool's gold - a memorable hook for a lesson on minerals and lustre.

The warm-toned metal that has wired human civilisation for thousands of years

A clean close-packed metal to introduce metallic bonding.

The glassy, vividly coloured mineral that gave fluorescence its name

The fluorite structure - a tidy second example of a cubic ionic lattice.