Grow Your Own Crystal!

Materials:

• Borax detergent

• A beaker OR a jar

• A pipe cleaner

• A wire OR a string

• A pencil

• Hot water

Steps:

1. Shape a pipe cleaner in whatever shape you want it to be. You can also choose different colors - Borax crystals are transparent, so the color of your pipe cleaner will determine the color of your crystal!

2. Attach your string or your wire to a pipe cleaner.

3. Boil the water you will be using (ask an adult to help you!). Add the Borax solution to the water to the point when it cannot be dissolved no matter how much you stir. Generally, you dissolve 4 tablespoons of Borax for 1 cup of water.

4. Pour the prepared water with the Borax into a jar for it to be about 3/4 full.

5. Attach the string or a wire with a pipe cleaner to a pencil and put it on top of the jar so that the pipe cleaner will be immersed in water.

6. Now you just wait from several hours to a couple of days - it doesn't really matter. However, the longer you wait, the bigger the crystal will be!

Advice: in order to preserve your crystal as long as possible, you can cover it with a transparent nail polish (you can ask an adult to help you!). Keep these crystals away from water and excessive sunlight because they could dissolve very fast!

Explanation:

The solution that you made with Borax is called a supersaturated solution. The reason why the water needed to be hot is because it can accept a lot of Borax. In hot water, molecules are moving faster, meaning they are further away from each other, so more Borax molecules can fit in and be dissolved. While it is cooling, the solution is becoming more stable because the molecules are moving slower, meaning they get closer together. So, the excess of Borax molecules is pushed away from the solution and attaches to the pipe cleaner, forming a crystal!