Science Fair Project: Growing Crystals

Grow your own crystals for study and experimentation.
••• crystals image by Vasiliy Koval from Fotolia.com

Crystals grow and yet are not alive, and they create order seemingly out of nothing. For these reasons, they have intrigued scientists for centuries. Yet crystals are common and easy to create, even if they take a bit of study to understand. Growing crystals and learning about them is so fascinating that your science fair project might not seem like homework at all.

Kits

Crystal growing kits are available at online retailers, education suppliers, some toy stores and some craft and hobby stores. Kits run from $10-$30 dollars but with a kit, successful crystal production is virtually guaranteed. Depending on your project and the amount of crystal making material in your kit, you may have to buy multiple kits to compare different experimental groups.

Home Grown Crystals

The most common homemade crystals are rock candy which can be produced with sugar, a skewer, a clothespin, a glass, water, heat and patience. First make a supersaturated solution of sugar water, adding sugar to boiling water a little at a time until the sugar no longer dissolves. Turn off the heat and allow the water to cool for ten minutes. Pour the sugar water in the glass. Clip the clothespin to the stick so that when you set it on the glass opening the stick is suspended in the sugar water but not touching the sides or bottom of the glass. Wait 3-7 days as sugar crystals form around the stick. The crystals form because the supersaturated solution is able to hold less dissolved sugar as it cools. The sugar molecules' structure forces them to bond to each in regular repeating patterns.

Experiments

For some science fair projects, simply demonstrating crystal growth may be adequate, but for others you may need to carry out some sort of experiment. You might test the effects of slowing water evaporation by covering the glass during crystallization. You might see what effect different temperatures have on the crystallization process. You might test different kinds of sugar to see if they create different kinds of crystals.

Crystal Science

Crystals are organized grouping of atoms or molecules. Some substances' atoms link together in a regular pattern that is repeated over and over again. These substances naturally form crystals under the right conditions.

How Crystals are Used

Crystals have often been exploited in technology. Watches, for example, can employ a quality of crystals that causes them to vibrate at regular frequencies when electricity passes through them. Crystals are used in lasers to energize light particles. Solar cells use a kind of silicon crystal to extract energy from the sun.

Related Articles

You've Gotta Try This Fun, Easy Way to Grow Crystals...
How to Make Polymer Crystals
How to Make Salt Crystals at Home
Methods of Making Crystals for a Kids Science Experiment
How to Remove Sugar From Water
How Does Temp Affect the Growth Rate of Crystals?
You've Gotta Try This Fun, Easy Way to Grow Crystals...
How to Make Rock Candy at School
How to Make Crystals Out of Salt
Different Osazone Crystals
The Best Growing Conditions for Crystals
How to Make Crystals with Epsom Salt
How to Grow Mineral Crystals
Purpose of Growing Crystals
How to Make Glowing Crystals
The Chemistry of Rock Candy
Science Experiments on the Formation of Crystals With...
Making Crystals at Home for Science Projects
How to Make Crystals Fast
How to Make CO2

Dont Go!

We Have More Great Sciencing Articles!