Growing Crystals

Objective: To produce crystals and observe their properties.

Materials: wide-mouthed 500 mL jar, a piece of string (about 25 cm), pencil, 6

tablespoons of borax, boiling water, rock salt, a pinch of solid or a drop of
liquid food color (optional)

Procedure:
A.
1. Make one or two equally spaced knots on one end of the string. Tie the
other end of the string to the pencil, keeping it long enough to hang into
the jar, but not touching the bottom.

2. Fill the jar with two cups (about 350 mL) of boiling water.

3. Add borax to the boiling water a little at a time while stirring to dissolve
after each addition. Stop adding when some borax remains undissolved
at the bottom of the jar, even after stirring well.

4. If desired, add a small pinch of food color to tint the mixture.

5. Place the pencil on top of the jar with the string hanging freely inside.
Make sure the knot/s are completely covered with the liquid mixture.

6. Place the jar in a location where it will not be disturbed until the next
day.
7. Get the string from the jar on the next day. Place it carefully on a piece
of paper. Observe, draw, and describe the crystals formed.
DOCUMENTATION:
B.
Place a few crystals of rock salt on a dry, clean piece of paper and
observe it with the use of a magnifying glass. Draw and describe the
crystals.

- It has many IRREGULAR shapes or there is no specific shape but

mostly it either has a sharp shape or irregular shape
- The texture is rough.
- It has different hues of Black and gray.
- Color is kind of fading at the edges, from pure black to just
white/gray crystal
- It has small rocky crystals and big crystals.

Questions:
1. What geometric forms and patterns do the crystals show?
 Crystals form when the supersaturated liquid solution cools and the
water (the solvent) evaporates, leaving behind a solute (a substance
dissolved in another substance) whose molecules re-form into irregular
shapes .Irregular quadrilateral shapes meaning not all 4( or more
depending on the crystal) angles are equal & not all 4 sides are equal.
Where in this experiment the cubic (or isometric) crystal system is
evidently shown. This system where the unit cell is in the shape of a
cube.
2. How do the crystals deposited on the knot compare with those on
the stretched part of the string?
The knot does not have any crystal formed compared to the pipe cleaners
where a little rocks and large rocks formed.
3. How do the Borax crystals compare with the rock salt crystals in
size and structure?
Borax crystals had smaller crystals than rock salt. Rock salt has bigger
crystals rocks.

CLARIZZE JADE L. ALANANO

12 STEM 3