Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Cheap and Unstinky Crystals
After reading about some people purchasing “crystal kits” for their kids and stinking up the place with whatever weird smells they produce, I decided to share a costs-next-to-nothing way to make crystals that I learned as a kid. I read it in some book about cheap/free science tricks. My mom was stingy so I had to find a lot of free fun things to do on my own. I’m sure a lot of parents are looking for ways to cut costs but still not deprive the kids. Well here’s one way to save $30.
All you need is to boil water and super-saturate it with sugar (salt should work too, but I used sugar). After it boils you turn off the heat and keep dissolving sugar into the hot water until no more can dissolve into it. (When sugar or salt dissolves, it turns clear. If it’s cloudy it isn’t dissolving.) You can add a bit of coloring if you want. I left mine clear because to me crystals are supposed to be clear, not colored. After it cools down to a temperature you’re able to touch. Pour it into a glass. Then you let it sit in the window sill (or somewhere where it won’t be knocked over) for days as the water evaporates. The more liquid you have, the longer it will take.
My first time doing this I was disappointed at first because all I saw was crusty residue at the bottom of my cup (it was plastic and not see-thru). So I dumped it out and then I found that the crystals had grown upside down. It was so cool. That’s why I recommend a glass so you can see its progress. And it was soooo cheap!
A final note: if you have an ant problem, you may want to see if the salt works instead. You’re basically going to have syrup in a cup until it finishes evaporating.
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