How well do crystals form using other mixtures with water? How do your results change if you grow your crystals for a longer period of time? Make sure to keep adding ice cubes to the water bath to keep it cool throughout the activity. Observations and results Did smaller, more abundant crystals form in the jar and on the string in the bowl of ice water, whereas larger, fewer, better-shaped crystals formed in the jar at room temperature?
As the hot, saturated mixture of Borax and water cooled, there was more borax than could be contained by the colder water, and so this borax fell out of the mixture and formed crystals. A crystal is made of molecules of a product that have come together in a specific repeated pattern. When the molecules of the crystal come together, other products that are often considered impurities, or the unwanted products of the chemical reaction, do not fit well into the structure, much like the wrong piece of a puzzle does not fit.
If the crystals form slowly enough, the impurities will be rejected because they do not fit correctly, and instead will remain in the water. This is why the crystals in the room-temperature jar should have been larger and more cube-like. But if a solution is cooled too quickly, there isn't time to expel the impurities and instead they become trapped within the crystal structure and the pattern is disturbed.
Consequently, the crystals in the bowl of ice water should have formed more quickly and in greater numbers, but were smaller and less cubelike in shape because they had more impurities. Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. Create your free account or Sign in to continue. See Subscription Options. Access Pass. All Exhibits.
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The secret to good crystals is having a supersaturated solution. Science Project Idea : Grow three different borax crystal snowflakes. You need three glass jars that are exactly alike. Fill one with cold tap water and one with hot tap water. Get an adult to help you fill the last jar with boiling water. Now add Borax a little a time to each jar until the Borax will not dissolve anymore. The warmer the water, the more Borax will dissolve in the water. That's because heating the water helps it become s upersaturated.
Now add a pipe cleaner snowflake to each jar and compare the crystals that grow over the next couple of weeks. Which jar has the most crystals? Which jar has the largest crystals? You can also ask a math and science expert for homework help by calling the Ask Rose Homework Hotline.
Use your indyPL Library Card to check out books at any of our locations , or check out e-books and e-audiobooks from home right to your device. Need help? Call or ask a Library staff member at any of our locations or text a librarian at When no more of the solution can be dissolved, you have reached saturation. As this solution cools, the water molecules move closer together again. Crystals begin to form and build on one another as the water lets go of the excess and evaporates.
This also applies to snowflakes — As water cools the molecules move closer together. Since all water molecules are shaped the same H2O they align in a six sided crystal. Pipe cleaners form a base for the crystals to grow in.
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