Introduction
In their investigations brothers Pierre & Jacques Curie found that electrical charges were produced by mechanical stresses applied to various naturally occuring crystals. This phenomenon is called the piezo-electric effect, being derived from greek word piezein = to press. Conversely it was found that the crystal was deformed by the application of an electrical charge, later the application of an alternating electrical field introduced mechanical vibrations. The quartz crystal behaves as an electrical resonance circuit with very low attenuation. Quartz was found to be one of the naturally occuring crystaline substance that exhibited the piezo-electric effect and being very stable, both chemically and mechanically. It became of great interest to the early electronic experimenters. The chemical description of Quartz is Silicon Dioxide SiO2.
