[js1138]

Of course, the odds against Avogadro's number of sodium chloride molecules "just happening" to arrange itself into a cubic crystal are also so astronomically huge as to make the event a practical impossibility.

Something not mentioned very often is that DNA readily takes a crystaline form. I can't help thinking this will eventually have some relevance to calculating the odds.

[frgoff]

This is very true; it's not random chance, it's governed by the laws of chemistry, and when you apply those, you find out the formation isn't just highly improbable, it's improbable to the point of being impossible. Behe goes into some of the chemistry in his book Darwin's Black Box.

Just like Sodium and Chlorine will always form ordered crystals when evaporated from solution, there are some chemical reactions that will NOT occur no matter how much time you give them. Graphite turning to diamond under STP, Helium-Oxide, Lithium permanganate, Oxygen Sulfate, etc.