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2. A synthesis reaction is a reaction that combines two or more reactants to gain a product. 3. One should not expect a 100% yield of crystals because solutions that lead to the production of crystals may or may not have been filtered well enough or may have stayed onto the containers, as in the scratches made for the crystals to grow. 4. At room temperature, one should not expect the solubility of the alum in water to be high at all. But as you raise the temperature, it should become very soluble. This needs to happen for the solution to become saturated and crystallize out. As the temperature is lowered, bigger crystals are allowed to form if not disturbed, leading to a crystallization that removes more impurities. 5. Washing the pure crystals with water might dissolve some of them. The solution we used to wash the crystals was a mix of water and a non-polar solution that lowered the solubility of the liquid to the crystals. 6. The crystals should have looked somewhat large if done correctly. They should be somewhat clear or cloudy with many white marks inside it. They have a octahedron shape. 7. A shape of an octahedron is a three dimensional figure with eight faces. 8.