Science is fun

Our daughter has gotten into doing science experiments lately, multiple ones per day, just for fun. One of the recent experiments she did was growing crystals. She loved watching the process and wants to make more using sugar so she can eat them. They would make such pretty gifts with food coloring added to them.

To make these you need:

• clean glass jar
• piece of thread
• teaspoon
• laundry booster (borax)
  
• paper clip
• bowl
• metal spoon
• hot water
• pencil

1. Put the metal spoon into a jar. Then, almost fill the jar with some hot water. The spoon should protect the jar by preventing the hot water from cracking the glass.
   
2. Put several teaspoons of laundry booster into the water and stir until it has all disappeared. Put in several more teaspoons of laundry booster and stir again vigorously.
3. Stand the jar in a bowl of hot water to keep the water in the jar hot. Spoon in more laundry booster until no more will disappear in the water.
4. Tie the paper clip onto one end of the thread. Tie the other end to the pencil. Drop the clip into the jar and wind the thread around the pencil until the clip hangs suspended in the middle of the water, not touching any of the sides of the glass jar.

What happens? As the water cools, it cannot hold the washing soda. So the soda starts to form crystals around the string. The rest of the soda is attracted to the crystals on the string, until a whole cluster forms. At the same time, the water evaporates into the air. As it does it leaves the soda behind, which forms into more and more crystals around the string.
Have fun with science and if you do this please take some pictures and share them with me. I would love to see how your crystals turn out.

Experiment found in this book.