The nitrate salt of silver is one of the most useful salts from this precious metal. Silver nitrate is used in photography, the manufacturing of mirrors, silver plating, indelible inks, hair dyeing, coloring ceramics, and etching ivory. The chemical is also very important as a reagent in analytical chemistry to precipitate halogens. When evaporated from solution, silver nitrate will slowly crystallize, forming beautiful dendritic needle-like crystals. The time-lapse movie was made using a modified version of the Intel Play QX3 microscope equipped for polarized light illumination with a full-wave (first order) retardation plate.