When a beam of light passes through a calcite crystal (Calcium Carbonate - CaCO3​), the dominant effect observed is birefringence, also known as double refraction, rather than typical diffraction.Calcite is an anisotropic crystal. This means its optical properties, specifically the refractive index, are not the same in all directions. This is due to the non-cubic arrangement of the calcium carbonate molecules within the crystal lattice. In contrast, isotropic materials like glass have the same refractive index in all directions.

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