Home Chemistry - Crazy Crystals

Aim: To learn about a saturated solution and how to make crystals

Definition of solution: 

A liquid mixture, when something is dissolved into a liquid (eg: sugar in water) 

Definition of saturated: 

Having or holding as much as can be absorbed of something (when no more sugar or borax can be dissolved into the water)

In groups of three you will make three different types of crystals and compare the results.

Borax Crystals

Ratio; 3 Tablespoons Borax per 1/2 cup water

Materials

1) Plastic cup and spoon

2) warm water

3) Borax

4)String and Popsicle stick to mix 

5)Pipe cleaner

Process

Step 1: get a plastic cup.

Step 2: get some borax and add 4 tablespoons of borax into the cup.

Step 3: add  1/2  warm water to the plastic cup.

Step 4: mix them carefully until all of it has dissolved.

Step 5: get 4 pieces of a pipe cleaner and tie them like a star and tie it to the string hanging at the end of the string.

Step 6: put the string and pipe cleaner into the cup and make sure the pipe cleaner is touching the borax water( don't put the whole thing inside tie the string into a Popsicle stick and let it dissolve the water into the pipe cleaner.

Sugar Crystals

Crystal sugar is the hardest one to make so it might not work.

Ratio: 1 cup sugar to 1/2 cup water

Materials

1) Sugar

2) Plastic Cup and spoon

3) String

4) warm water

5) Popsicle stick

Process

Step 1: get a plastic cup.

Step 2: add 4 tablespoons of sugar into the cup.

Step 3: add 1/2 of warm water inside the cup.

Step 4: mix them together until all of the sugar is dissolved.

Step 5: get string and tie it tight to the Popsicle stick.

Step 6: put the string inside of the cup, leaving the Popsicle hanging on the cup.

Salt Crystals

Ratio: 4 Tablespoons salt to 1/2 cup water

Materials

1) Salt

2) Hot water

3) Plastic Cup

4) Popsicle stick

5) string

Process

Step 1: get a plastic cup.

Step 2: add 4 tablespoon of salt into the cup.

Step 3: add 1/2 of hot water into the cup.

Step 4:mix the ingredients together until it's dissolved.

Step 5: tie the string tight into the Popsicle stick.

Step 6: put the string inside the of the plastic cup, leaving the Popsicle hanging out of the cup.

Findings

Describe your crystals in the table below.

Crystal Type	Shape (Describe the shape)	Size (of individual crystals)	Hardness (Crumbly to Rock Hard)
Borax	the shape is kinda of like a snow flake it had a snowy texture.	small	Fragile
Sugar	the sugar one didn't make crystals	None	None
Salt	The shape was really spiky	miniature	Fragile

What crystals worked out best and why? The best crystal that worked out was the borax one. I think Borax was the best one, because Borax has different types of ingredients and it is the best to dissolve in water and to make crystals.

Conclusion: The Salt Crystals didn't really make a lot of crystals they were miniature sized crystals and it was really easy to break into shards but it was spiky. The Sugar one didn't make any crystals but it's not surprising Mr. Power told us that it was the hardest crystals to make. The borax crystal is definitely The best crystal. The crystals went to the bottom till the top it was small but much bigger than the salt crystal and definitely more then the sugar one, The shape was kinda like a star and a snowflake it was also really easy to break on the top but on the bottom it was hard. I especially think that the Borax crystal is the best one.

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CRYSTAL TYPES

AIM: TO LOOK AT THE 7 DIFFERENT TYPES OF CRYSTALS

Sugar Crystals

                                                           Salt Crystal

                                             

Borax Crystal

       7 different crystal shapes

The 7 types of crystals

Type	Number of sides	2 examples	Image
Triclinic Definition:	7	it looks diamond and a double triangle.
Monoclinic Definition:	10	it looks like  Metal and a bunch of stuff stuck together.
Orthombic Definition:	6	It looks  like glass and a rolling pin.
Trigonal Definition:	10	it looks like rock shape to me and an amethyst colour
Hexagonal Definition:	7	it looks like rock candy and galaxy coloured candy rock
Cubic Definition:	6	It looks like a rub ix cube and a dice.
Tetragonal Definition:	12	it looks like glass shards and ripped flower petals.

Explain how the following crystals are formed? the crystals are formed like a rock stuck togther with little rocks with different shapes

Type	Explanation
salt:	sea water, pond, sun, evaporates water.
Sugar:	sugar cane, chop it up, squish/roll, juice, heat, evaporates water, sugar crystallise.
snow flakes:	dust, water freezes to dust, more water freezes to it.