Instructions For Growing Your Own Crystal Recipes
By Zachary A Nyakundi
A crystal can be defined as a substance that has a distinct internal structure. The atoms of a crystal are arranged in a lattice pattern. The most common crystals available in every home are that of salt and sugar.
Growing crystals recipes are easy to make. Learning chemistry becomes easy and fun when you involve children to make crystals with sugar, salt or alum at home. Rock candy crystals are more popular among children. An interesting feature of crystals is they can be shaped and polished. Nucleation is the process by which a crystal grows.
Growing a salt garden is the most common crystal growing. These crystals normally grow white with some faint brown areas. To grow a salt garden crystal you require:
• 4 tablespoons salt
• 4 tablespoons liquid bluing
• 4 tablespoons water
• 4 tablespoon ammonia
Pour the mixture over small pieces of porous rock, charcoal or pieces of broken clay flowerpots in a shallow glass or plastic bowl or plate. Crystals will begin to grow in six hours and continue for three days, depending on the humidity, temperature, and how much flow of air is present. To concentrate crystal growth on the charcoal and avoid them forming on the edge of the plate, you can coat the plate with Vaseline.
On the third day you can add more of the salt-bluing-ammonia-water mix to keep the crystals growing. Care should be taken to avoid dripping any of the new solution on the growing crystals or they will be damaged. Over time the crystals may grow over the sides of the bowl.
Most recipes suggest sprinkling two more tablespoons of salt over the charcoal on the first or second day to get the crystal growth off to a faster start.
I’ve grown these crystals in both plastic and glass bowls and the growing liquid did not stain them. The crystals and any left over growing liquid washed off them very easily.
The formation of the crystals will depend on purity of the water, saturation level of the solution and the undissolved chemical materials. Some of the remedies are to use clean containers, pure water and also use less impure chemicals.
Zachary Nyakundi always entertained when he was growing up. You can find more great recipes at http://growingcrystals-recipes.blogspot.com
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