# Crystals of Beta-alanine and Coca-Cola mixture under polarized light

- By: Janeklass
- Date: 2025-02-05
- Classification: Photograph
- Museum: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crystals_of_Beta-alanine_and_Coca-Cola_mixture_under_polarized_light.jpg)
- Rights: [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/commons/thumb/2/24/Crystals_of_Beta-alanine_and_Coca-Cola_mixture_under_polarized_light.jpg/1920px-Crystals_of_Beta-alanine_and_Coca-Cola_mixture_under_polarized_light.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

A micrograph displaying the crystal structures formed from a mixture of the amino acid beta-alanine and the soft drink Coca-Cola. The liquid mixture was allowed to crystallize, resulting in a colorful, abstract landscape viewed under the microscope. The image was captured using polarized light, which highlights the birefringence of the crystals and creates vivid interference colors (blues, yellows, and greens) dependent on the thickness and orientation of the crystal layers. The photo was taken using an 8x objective and focus stacking technique to ensure sharpness across the complex structures.