All theories herein penned and posited by apprentice Noether, under the tutelage of Archmage Otilike.

What follows is a depiction of my observations, showing what happens when pure crystalline dust (sand, salt, sugar) conglomerates are super heated, then stored in the ice.

Abstract:

The distance apart, and temperature of these buried crystals, determines the orderliness of their form, down to the minute angles of their physical geometry.

[*What follows are a series of six squares, containing visual representations of crystalline geometric features. Each one is labeled and given accompanying notes, describing relevant exposure, proximity, effective spell circle catalyzed, and physical features of note.*]

Process:

Find a climate of frigid persuasion, bore holes into an ice shelf as far as one is able, and deposit there a crystal of any pure element. Retrieve after varying day length intervals for testing. Ideal thermoscopic results should see water rising into one's bulb, or at least past the ninth degree. For weighted measurements, it should be so cold that the third weight rests at the bottom of one's thermometer. Once retrieved, these crystals were then used as arcane foci, in attempts to cast magic.

Observation:

Crystals have for long been understood as potent catalysts for creating and channeling energies. Of naturally forming crystals, those found in northern climates tend to react most potently and predictably.

Hypothesis:

The entropy of a perfect crystal of any pure substance approaches zero as the energy potential approaches zero. This creates a physical circumstance within the substance that makes it a highly sensitive energy conduit.

Results:

Initial testing placed the crystals too close to each other in the ice shelf, in what appeared to be an energy transference in which, only those crystals outside most from the others, achieved marked increase in potency. Future tests placed the crystals forty paces apart and achieved overall higher success per crystal unit, in performing advanced arcanum.

Conclusion:

The results pose two-fold findings. While it would appear true that the entropy of a perfect crystal of any pure substance approaches zero as the energy potential approaches zero, the energy transference between nearby crystal installments also suggests that when two initially isolated systems in separate but nearby regions of space, each with their own energy potential equilibrium but not necessarily equal to each other, are then allowed to interact, they will eventually reach a mutual equilibrium. The sum of the entropies of the initially isolated systems is less than or equal to the total entropy of the final combination. Equality occurs just when the two original systems have all their respective energy variables equal; then the final system also has the same values. Thus it would seem energy is never created nor destroyed, it merely changes. For practical purposes, this lends useful understanding for many elemental spells.

Referenced Applications:

Ice Dagger Cone of Cold Ice Storm Iceberg