Crystals are not alive, but they
can grow. Growing crystals requires a little time and patience.
If you have both (plus a few other ingredients), you can grow
your own crystal gardens.
Before You Start:
Get permission from a parent before doing these projects. Obey
all warnings on the ammonia and bluing labels.
For a printable version of this project, click
here.
Materials
• 3 clean, dry sponges
• Aluminum pie plate or cake pan
• Glass measuring cup
• 1/4 cup table salt
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup laundry bluing (You can buy bluing at the grocery store
under the brand name of Mrs. Stewart’s Liquid Bluing.)
• 2 tablespoons household ammonia
• Mixing bowl
• Metal spoon
• Blue and green food colouring
Instructions
1. Arrange the
sponges in the pie plate. (You can cut the sponges to fit in the
pie plate if needed.) 2. Pour the salt, water, bluing, and ammonia into
the mixing bowl and stir well to mix. 3. Pour this mixture over the sponges and then
spoon out the rest of the thick portion, spreading it out evenly
over the sponges. 4. Sprinkle drops of food colouring randomly on
the sponges. 5. Let the pan sit. It may take hours or even days
to see the results.
What’s
Happening
In a crystal, atoms or molecules
join together in a pattern that repeats itself over and over to
create a certain shape. A
crystal grows by adding atoms or molecules to all its sides in the
exact same pattern as the atoms and molecules that
were added before.
Special
Thanks
Thanks to the Canadian Society for
Chemistry which allowed us to reproduce Crystal Gardens from their
publication “Discovering Chemistry”.
