How to Make Crystal Needles
Crystal Needles:
Crystal Needles are a great introduction to crystal growing. You can have some delicate, really cool crystals going within three hours time!
Ingredients:
•a cup or small bowl
•1/2 cup Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate)
•1/2 cup hot tap water
•(optional) a drop of food coloring
Directions:
1.Add the ingredients together in your bowl or cup.
2.Stir the solution until all the salt is dissolved. There may be some crystals still at the bottom, but that's ok.
3.Place the cup or bowl in the refrigerator and let sit for 3 hours.
4.You can carefully scoop the crystals out of your bowl or cup to get a better look at them.
Rock Candy:
It's easy to grow your own sugar crystals! Sugar crystals are also known as rock candy since the crystallized sucrose (table sugar) resembles rock crystals and because you can eat your finished product. You can grow beautiful clear sugar crystals with sugar and water or you can add food coloring to get colored crystals. It's simple, safe, and fun. Boiling water is required to dissolve the sugar, so adult supervision is recommended for this project.
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: a few days to a week
Here's How:
1.Gather your materials.
2.You may wish to grow a seed crystal, a small crystal to weight your string and provide a surface for larger crystals to grow onto. A seed crystal is not necessary as long as you are using a rough string or yarn.
3.Tie the string to a pencil or butter knife. If you have made a seed crystal, tie it to the bottom of the string. Set the pencil or knife across the top of the glass jar and make sure that the string will hang into the jar without touching its sides or bottom. However, you want the string to hang nearly to the bottom. Adjust the length of the string, if necessary.
4.Boil the water. If you boil your water in the microwave, be very careful removing it to avoid getting splashed!
5.Stir in the sugar, a teaspoonful at a time. Keep adding sugar until it starts
Crystal Needles are a great introduction to crystal growing. You can have some delicate, really cool crystals going within three hours time!
Ingredients:
•a cup or small bowl
•1/2 cup Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate)
•1/2 cup hot tap water
•(optional) a drop of food coloring
Directions:
1.Add the ingredients together in your bowl or cup.
2.Stir the solution until all the salt is dissolved. There may be some crystals still at the bottom, but that's ok.
3.Place the cup or bowl in the refrigerator and let sit for 3 hours.
4.You can carefully scoop the crystals out of your bowl or cup to get a better look at them.
Rock Candy:
It's easy to grow your own sugar crystals! Sugar crystals are also known as rock candy since the crystallized sucrose (table sugar) resembles rock crystals and because you can eat your finished product. You can grow beautiful clear sugar crystals with sugar and water or you can add food coloring to get colored crystals. It's simple, safe, and fun. Boiling water is required to dissolve the sugar, so adult supervision is recommended for this project.
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: a few days to a week
Here's How:
1.Gather your materials.
2.You may wish to grow a seed crystal, a small crystal to weight your string and provide a surface for larger crystals to grow onto. A seed crystal is not necessary as long as you are using a rough string or yarn.
3.Tie the string to a pencil or butter knife. If you have made a seed crystal, tie it to the bottom of the string. Set the pencil or knife across the top of the glass jar and make sure that the string will hang into the jar without touching its sides or bottom. However, you want the string to hang nearly to the bottom. Adjust the length of the string, if necessary.
4.Boil the water. If you boil your water in the microwave, be very careful removing it to avoid getting splashed!
5.Stir in the sugar, a teaspoonful at a time. Keep adding sugar until it starts