One, two, three crystal

Ithink that winter may have arrived this past week. I do not know about you, but this is the most snow I have seen in quite some time.

With the weather being a bit unpredictable this week, I thought it may be best to have an activity that we could do inside just in case, not to mention useful in planning ahead for the holiday.

Remember to ask an adult before doing this activity.

Materials

– Butcher string

– Clear glass jar

– Pipe cleaners (in the colours of ornaments you want to make)

– Blue food colouring (optional)

– Kettle

– Water

– Alum (spice section at the grocery store)

– Pencil

– Scissors

– Measuring spoon – Measuring cup

– Stirring spoon

– Marker

– Masking tape

Procedure

1. Take a piece of masking tape and write on it “Alum solution – DO NOT DRINK.”

2. Place the tape on the jar you will be using.

3. Take the pipe cleaner and twist or cut into a holiday shape of your choice. Use your imagination — from snowflakes to candy canes, the possibilities are endless.

4. Cut a piece of string approximately 10 centimetres in length.

5. Tie one end of the string to the centre of your ornament.

6. Tie the other end of the string to a pencil. Roll the ornament up on the pencil so it is fairly tight.

7. With the help of an adult, fill the kettle and boil the water.

8. Measure 125 mL (1/2 cup) of the boiling water and carefully pour it into the clear glass jar.

9. Measure and place 45 mL (three tablespoons) of Alum in the boiling water.

10. Stir well.

11. If you cannot see a little bit of the solid still left on the bottom of the jar, add another 15 mL (one tablespoon) of Alum at a time, stirring well after each addition. Once you see a bit of the Alum left on the bottom of the jar, you will have enough.

12. If you wish, add a couple of drops of food colouring to the solution and stir well.

13. Carefully lower the ornament into the jar. It should not touch the bottom of the jar. If it does, just roll up the string onto the pencil a bit more so it is suspended in the solution nicely.

14. Rest the pencil on the mouth of the jar.

15. Set the jar aside, and do not disturb it.

16. Check your ornament after a few hours and even the next day.

17. Once you have enough crystals on your ornament, remove it from the solution, and find a place to hang it up to let it dry completely.

18. If there is still some solution left in the jar, add another ornament. Keep repeating until you have enough decorations to fill your house!

19. Once you are finished, you can discard the solution down the drain running some cool water after it.

Explanation Although Alum is one of the quickest and easiest crystals to make, it does take a bit of time. You have to be patient as it may take a couple of days for this experiment to produce any results. Keep checking on it, but do not disturb it by touching, shaking or moving it around. When you observe the ornament shape you made, you should be able to see beautiful sparkling crystals beginning to form. Leave your ornament in the solution until you have the desired amount of crystals on there.

The science behind this experiment is that the crystals were able to form because you made a supersaturated solution with the “chemical” Alum. A supersaturated solution is created when a solution contains more than the maximum amount of solute (solid powder you added) that is capable of being dissolved in that solution (the hot water). It definitely helped your solution by using boiling water as you are able to dissolve more solute when the temperature of the liquid is higher. This is because in the hot water, the molecules are much farther apart from one another and allow the solute to “move in” and bind to them. As the solution begins to cool off, the solute needs somewhere to go, and this is where you get those beautiful crystals from. As the solution begins to evaporate, they begin to “grow” on the pipe cleaner ornament you made. Patty Rooks, Senior Scientific Consultant PRAXIS, “Connecting Science To The Community”. Contact Praxis at praxis@praxismh.ca, www. praxismh.ca, Tweet or follow us @PraxisMedHat, or friend us on Facebook