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by silizium 2382 days ago
> The question then is, why does only a single crystal form, rather than multiple crystal filaments oriented at different directions according to whichever grain contacted the starting point of the filament...

The silicon wants to be in the lowest energy state and it does so by forming a face centered cubic crystal (diamond structure). The formation of crystals depends on the cooling rate. If matter cools to fast, it can't form a crystal structure.