Friday, February 1, 2013

crystal science project idea

Hi my name is luis veras. I'm a member of the science club.My project is on crystals. Crystals are built out of atoms.Atoms are listed and arranged in the periodic table according to their number of protons (increasing left to right across the rows). 
How do they form?
The process of crystal forming is called crystallization. Crystals often form in nature when liquids cool and start to harden. Certain molecules in the liquid gather together as they attempt to become stable. They do this in a uniform and repeating pattern that forms the crystal. n nature, crystals can form as liquid rock, called magma, cools. If it cools slowly, then crystals may form. Many valuable crystals such as diamonds, rubies, and emeralds form this way.

Another way crystals from is when water evaporates from a mixture. Salt crystals often form as salt water evaporates.                                                  

There are many different kinds of crystals I'll write them down for u guys to see and I'll show how to make them :



Copper Sulfate Crystals

Copper Sulfate CrystalAnne Helmenstine
Copper sulfate crystals naturally form blue diamonds. These crystals are extremely easy to grow. Simply dissolve copper sulfate into a cup of boiling water until no more will dissolve. Allow the container to rest undisturbed overnight. It's best to collect the crystals with a spoon or toothpick, since touching the solution will turn your skin blue and may cause irritation.

 Alum Crystals

This is a single alum crystal.Todd Helmenstine
These crystals resemble diamonds, except they are much larger than any diamond crystals you're likely to see! Alum is a cooking spice, so these crystals are non-toxic, although they don't taste good, so you won't want to eat them. To make alum crystals, simply mix:
  • 2-1/2 tablespoons alum
  • 1/2 cup very hot tap water
Crystals should start forming in your container within a few hours. You can also grow these crystals on rocks or other surfaces for a more natural look. Individual crystals may be scraped off of the container with a fingernail and allowed to dry on a paper towel.

Borax Crystals

You can grow borax crystals on a star shape to form borax crystal stars.Anne Helmenstine
These naturally clear crystals are easy to grow onto pipecleaner shapes. Choose a colored pipecleaner or add food coloring to get colored crystals. All you need to do to prepare the solution is pour boiling water into your container and stir in borax until no more will dissolve. An approximate recipe is:
  • 3 tablespoons borax
  • 1 cup boiling water

Epsom Salt Crystal Needles

Epsom salt crystals needles grow in a matter of hours. You can grow clear or colored crystals.Anne Helmenstine
These delicate crystal spikes grow in a cup in your
refrigerator within a couple of hours, or sometimes more quickly. Simply mix together:
  • 1/2 cup Epsom salt
  • 1/2 cup very hot tap water
  • food coloring (optional)
Place the cup in the refrigerator. Use care when scooping out the crystals to examine them, as they will be fragile.

Copper Sulfate Crystals

Copper Sulfate CrystalAnne Helmenstine
Copper sulfate crystals naturally form blue diamonds. These crystals are extremely easy to grow. Simply dissolve copper sulfate into a cup of boiling water until no more will dissolve. Allow the container to rest undisturbed overnight. It's best to collect the crystals with a spoon or toothpick, since touching the solution will turn your skin blue and may cause irritation.

Sodium Chloride or Table Salt Crystals

These are crystals of salt or sodium chloride.Choba Poncho
This project works with any type of table salt, including iodized salt, rock salt and sea salt. Simply stir salt into boiling water until no more will dissolve. The solubility of salt is highly dependent on temperature, so hot tap water is not hot enough for this project. It's fine to boil the water on the stove while stirring in the salt. Allow the crystals to sit undisturbed. Depending on the concentration of your solution, the temperature and your humidity you can get crystals overnight or it may take a few days for them to form.

Chrome Alum Crystal

This is a crystal of chrome alum, also known as chromium alum.Ra'ike, Wikipedia Commons
Chrome alum crystals are deep purple in color. Simply prepare the crystal growing solution and allow the crystals to form.
  • 300 grams potassium chromium sulfate (chrome alum)
  • 500 ml boiling water
The solution will be too dark to observe crystal growth. You can check for growth by shining a bright flashlight into the solution or by carefully tipping the solution to the side. Don't spill! Disturbing the solution may slow your results, so don't check more often than necessary.

Copper Acetate Monohydrate

These are crystals of copper(II) acetate grown on a copper wire.Choba Poncho, public domain
Copper acetate monohydrate produces blue-green monoclinic crystals.
  • 20 g copper acetate monohydrate
200 ml hot distilled water                                                           
  

Sugar Crystals or Rock Candy

This blue rock candy is practically the same color as the sky.Anne Helmenstine
Rock candy or sugar crystals are especially good to grow because you can eat the finished crystals! The basic recipe for these crystals is:
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 1 cup boiling water
You can add food coloring or flavoring to the liquid, if you want. It's easiest to grow these crystals on a thick string hanging from a pencil or knife into the solution. For best results, remove any crystals that aren't growing on your string.
Those are some cryatals.Now I'm going to show  some pictures of crystals.                                                                                                                                                                      

And those are some pictures of crystals,but if you want to know how to make one just watch this video.So when you watch this video take some notes while you are watching ok. And give yourself a test to see on how much you know. Thank you for reading this.

9 comments:

  1. you have a great project you just need the materials to make a crystal i really like it

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello Luis this is Mr. Ronelus. Check you spelling on the word science on your title page

    ReplyDelete
  3. You can do a google search on salt crystals and start this weekend at home. I will get you a crystal growing kit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MR.Ronelus in the book to tell me what to do of how to make crystal it says i have to cut part of the plastic from the crystal kit it says cut size "c"plastic crystal growing cup cut size "d" plastic crystal growing cup and cut size "d" plastic crystal growing cup lid to make one crystal i'm trying to make called "Golden Citrine" crystals.Could i cut them off and make the crystal or should i not cut them off and use something else? Your choice MR.Ronelus.

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  4. LIKED YOUR EXPERIMENT LUIS
    ITS COOL
    AND AWSOME

    ReplyDelete