home Endocrinology How to grow a crystal from salt or copper sulfate? Growing a crystal of copper sulfate (quick method)

How to grow a crystal from salt or copper sulfate? Growing a crystal of copper sulfate (quick method)

Manufacturers of modern toys designed for organizing educational children's leisure time often offer ready-made kits for growing crystals at home. But it would be a mistake to think that this activity is a development of our time and an achievement of the modern chemical industry.

The book, based on the materials of which our retro blog is preparing a publication today, was published in 1875 and considered its main goal to be the need to convey to young readers as much useful practical information as possible that would contribute to the development of children's thinking and broadening their horizons.

One of the extensive chapters of this publication was devoted to how to grow a crystal at home, using any (or even all at once) of the ingredients proposed in the book. Having learned to grow crystals, you can use them to create beautiful decorative elements that can become an original Christmas tree decoration or part of a festive interior decor.

General rules for growing crystals

Before proceeding to the practical part, I would like to warn you: growing crystals does not tolerate fuss: the beauty of their form directly depends on the conditions in which the solution is located. The vessel where crystal growth occurs must be removed to a place where no one will disturb it and cannot accidentally touch, push, or overturn it. Any careless movement can lead to the crystal not being as large, even and beautiful as we would like.
To obtain large crystals, the amount of water must be increased: the larger the crystal, the more water must be taken to dissolve the original ingredient. Most components are sensitive to the quality of water and can react with impurities included in its composition, so it is advisable to take filtered or distilled water.
The less the solution is heated, the better for the crystals, because in heated and settled water, larger and more even formations are obtained. As soon as crystals appear at the bottom of the vessel, you should select and remove the smallest ones, leaving only the largest ones. Every morning the remaining crystals are very carefully turned over to the other side with a thin stick - this way the growth of layers is uniform.

Alum crystals

To grow crystals you will need alum: to obtain large and transparent polyhedra, aluminum-ammonium or aluminum-potassium (burnt) alum is suitable; To create a beautiful purple color, chromium-potassium alum is usually added to burnt alum.

If you use only chromium-potassium alum in your work, the crystal may turn out to be dark purple or almost black. Pale pink or lilac-tinged multifaceted crystals are obtained using ferroammonium alum.

Also, multi-colored crystals can be obtained with the help of certain dyes: for example, a saturated solution of turmeric gives a yellow color; red color - sandalwood decoction; blue - copper sulfate. You can also use modern food coloring.

Preparation of the solution

Alum is ground to a powder and dissolved in hot water. The amount of initial ingredients is determined by eye: enough alum is poured into water to form a supersaturated solution, i.e. they stopped dissolving. If the resulting solution seems cloudy, then filter it through filter paper (you can use a modern coffee filter).

The solution is cooled and left at rest for a day: during this time, most of the alum will settle to the bottom of the vessel in the form of crystals. These crystals can also be used to decorate various objects: if you make a crown out of wire, wrap all its elements with woolen thread and immerse it in an alum solution, within a day it will be covered with crystals, like precious stones.

Growing crystals from salt

One of the most popular ingredients for growing crystals is common table salt. To prepare the solution, warm water is poured into a non-metallic vessel and the salt is dissolved in it according to the same principle as in the case of alum crystals: the solution should be so saturated that the salt stops dissolving.
(Crystals are grown from sugar in the same way. )

Important point: to prepare a solution in modern conditions, you should pay attention to the fact that table salt does not contain an anti-caking component, which prevents the formation of beautiful crystals.

The vessel is placed in a warm place for several hours until approximately a third of the prepared solution has evaporated, after which the container is moved to a cooler place. Armed with patience, you will soon find transparent salt cubes at the bottom of the vessel. If this solution is placed outside a window in winter at a temperature of about -10 degrees, then crystals will form in the form of hexagonal plates.

Using this solution, you can prepare shaped Christmas tree decorations by making the frame of the future toy from wire and wrapping it with woolen thread. A saturated saline solution is poured into several vessels, different dyes are added to each of them, and wire blanks suspended on a stick are immersed.

You can also make original toys by cutting out blanks from felt - due to its texture, felt absorbs salt solution well and the figure is completely covered with small crystals.

Soda crystals

Baking soda crystals are grown using the same principle as salt crystals. But to create a saturated solution, it is very important that the water is as soft and pure as possible, ideally distilled, or at least well filtered.

Soda is dissolved in hot water until a saturated solution is obtained (the soda stops dissolving), after which the solution is filtered and the container is put in a warm place. After some time, crystals begin to appear on the bottom and walls of the vessel. This moment is the most successful for placing an object in a container, the contours of which will gradually become overgrown with crystals.

It should be remembered that, unlike crystals obtained from salt and alum, soda is highly susceptible to moisture in the air, so these crystals can be easily destroyed. To protect them from deformation, soda crystals are stored in a tightly closed container.

Saltpeter crystals

The shape of the crystals will depend on the type of nitrate taken: these can be elongated cylinders or “sticks”, plates fused together, or pointed needles.

Pour about 100 g of any type of saltpeter into a small container and fill it with 50 ml of water. This mixture is placed on the fire and heated for some time, bringing to a boil. The finished solution is filtered through gauze or filter paper and cooled.

As the solution cools, small bright white crystals will precipitate. If you want to get larger crystals, you need to take about 450 ml of water for the same amount of saltpeter - after cooling, you will get elongated hexagonal crystals.

If you mix powdered saltpeter with table salt, dissolve these substances in water, boil and cool, you can end up with two types of crystals at once.

Growing crystals from vitriol

Crystals grown in this way turn out to be very beautiful: saturated solutions of copper and iron sulfate are prepared in two different vessels. Water for preparing solutions should also be as clean as possible - filtered or, ideally, distilled.

Both vessels are placed in a water bath and heated, stirring, until the vitriol is completely dissolved. During the cooling process, green crystals are obtained from iron sulfate, and blue crystals from copper sulfate. The green crystal is tied with a thread and carefully immersed in a solution of copper sulfate. After some time, this crystal will be covered with a blue layer; after this, it is removed from the vessel and immersed in a solution of iron sulfate, which will give the crystal a layer of green color.

In this way, the procedure of immersion in different vessels is repeated until a large crystal is formed, consisting of beautiful green and blue layers.

The term “crystal” should be understood as a substance in which the smallest particles, atoms, are arranged in a certain order. They form a crystal lattice - a three-dimensionally periodic ordered spatial arrangement.

As a result, externally the crystals have the appearance of regular symmetrical polyhedra. They can vary greatly in shape and have from four to several hundred edges that intersect each other at certain angles.

Salt is a member of the crystal family

One such solid with an ordered symmetrical structure is ordinary salt.

It is a food product that occurs naturally as a mineral called halite. A large amount of it is found in other salty sources. If you look at grains of salt with a microscope or magnifying glass, you will notice that they have flat edges. This means they are in a crystalline state. In this article we will talk about how to make a salt crystal yourself. It's actually not difficult. To understand how salt crystals form, that is, the crystallization process, we suggest you carry out an interesting experiment at home. It is advisable for the child to perform it under the guidance of an adult. Remember that the shape of a salt crystal can be different, including cubic, prismatic, or any other more complex one. However, the sides of the salt always intersect at right angles.

Let's talk about how to make a crystal from salt: necessary supplies and tools

Well, let's get to work. What materials and tools will we need to conduct this interesting experiment? Of course, water, transparent glass glasses, a string or thick thread, a wooden spatula. You should also prepare a ballpoint pen or a regular pencil.

And most importantly, you need to be patient. The fact is that the crystallization process takes time - about three weeks. How to make a crystal from salt? Take good salt, without impurities. It is advisable to purchase a product with a purity of at least 98%, otherwise the experiment may not be successful. If the salt contains a large number of various impurities, the specimen will turn out ugly and will have flaws. From salt, let's start by preparing a highly concentrated solution. Pour warm water (200 ml) into a glass or jar and start adding salt. Don’t forget to constantly stir the liquid with a wooden spatula. This is necessary so that the salt dissolves well. After the solution is ready (this can be determined by the fact that the added salt has ceased to dissolve in a glass of water with normal stirring), the mixture should be heated. Fill the saucepan with water, put it on the fire, and heat the water. Then carefully place a glass of concentrated saline solution into it and wait until it warms up.

We continue our work on growing beautiful salt crystals

Then we take our glass glass out of the pan and leave it alone.

We attach a thread to the shaft of a ballpoint pen (pencil), to which we tie a small crystal of salt. We place the rod on the glass and immerse the rope with the “seed” in the solution. It is on this salt crystal that our beautiful exhibit will grow. That's all, now all we have to do is wait. We place the glass in a warm place and monitor the crystallization process every day. Under no circumstances should you shake, turn over or lift the container with the solution. Gradually the crystal will grow and become quite large. When this happens, you can carefully remove it from the solution. We recommend drying it with a napkin, but be extremely careful - your specimen is very fragile. Trim the excess thread and coat the crystal with clear varnish to extend its life. Now you know how to get salt crystals at home. We hope you will be able to repeat our simple experiment.

Crystals from the experience of creating a beautiful exhibit

If you want to grow large, even and beautiful specimens, pay attention to the following experience. To work you will need the following materials and tools:

The technology of the crystal growing process is as follows. First, pour not too hot water into a glass and start pouring sea salt into it, gradually, one teaspoon at a time. At the same time, do not forget to stir with a spatula. Salt must be added to the liquid until it stops dissolving. Now take a napkin and filter the resulting solution through it. This is done so that specks do not interfere with the formation of an even and beautiful sample.

The process of creating large salt crystals

How to make a crystal from salt: after filtering, put a small pebble into the solution (can be replaced with a nut) and set it to cool. Remember that the slower our salty liquid cools, the larger the crystals will be. It is advisable to cover the glass with paper and place it in a dark place, protected from drafts. After two or three days, you will see how your pebble will become overgrown with small crystals. Carefully ensure that the solution completely covers the “seed” at all times. You should also clean the liquid weekly to remove dust and excess crystals that form at the bottom of the glass. As it evaporates, you need to add highly concentrated water into the container. Make sure it is clean and not cold (room temperature). In addition, it is necessary to periodically remove the crust that appears at the bottom of the container. After two to three weeks, your crystal will reach approximately 2-3 cm in length. And in order to receive a larger specimen, it will take more time - about 6 weeks.

Correcting salt crystals

Remember that you may not get beautiful and even crystals right away. Any business requires practice. We advise you to carefully correct the crystallization of the samples, removing not very beautiful growths. This can be done using a sharp knife, scraping off the excess. Also, using Vaseline, you can stop the formation of edges. If necessary, the Vaseline layer can be removed from the sample with acetone. When your crystal grows to the desired size, you can carefully remove it from the solution. After this, you should gently wipe the edges with a napkin. You can cover the sample with hairspray: this will make your crystal less fragile, brittle and retain its beautiful appearance for a long time.

Original craft made from table salt crystals

At home, you can not only grow an ordinary salt crystal, but also make an interesting craft. To do this you will need the following tools and materials:

Let's start the work by dissolving the salt in water. Add it to the liquid in small portions, adding the next one only after the previous one has completely dissolved. When the salt stops dissolving, move on to the next step. Take a pan, fill it with water and place the container on the stove over low heat. We place a jar of saline solution in it. We monitor the heating process. We continue to dissolve the salt, bringing the temperature to 65 degrees. That's it, turn off the gas, but do not remove the jar from the pan yet. The fact is that the temperature difference can cause glass containers to burst. After the solution has cooled, you can safely remove the jar from the pan.

Solution filtration and crystallization

After this, we begin to clean the solution from impurities. Take a clean jar and attach filter paper to its neck. Now carefully pour the solution into a new container. All undissolved salt crystals and impurities remain on the filter paper. We get a clean solution. Now we put the jar of liquid in a cool place and make a “seed”. We take copper wire and use it to make any animal shape, flower, twig, or star. We wrap the wire with thread. Place the workpiece in a jar with saline solution, cover the container with a napkin, leaving only a small gap. That's all, all that remains is to wait for the crystals to grow from the salt. After the wire has grown over, you can remove it from the solution. This must be done very carefully, as the salt crystals may break.

You can find quite a lot of information about growing crystals at home. For example, from copper sulfate or table salt. I would like to offer a simple way to grow crystals that look like coral with a turquoise tint.
What we need: coarse salt, a pinch of copper sulfate and clean water without boiling. It is better to take filtered water, but not just from the tap.
Let's make a solution of table salt: pour water into a container and place it in a vessel with warm water (about 50°C - 60°C). Ideally, the water will not contain dissolved salts, that is, distilled, but in our case, you can use filtered tap water. Pour table salt into a jar and leave for 5-10 minutes, stirring before doing so. After some time, the jar of water will warm up and the salt will dissolve. It is important that the water temperature does not drop too much. Then add more salt and stir again. Repeat this operation until the salt stops dissolving and settles to the bottom of the jar. As a result, we will get a saturated salt solution. Pour the solution into a clean container, removing any undissolved salt from the bottom of the jar.
Pour approximately 50 ml of the resulting solution into a small container. and dissolve in this solution several crystals of copper sulfate, about half a teaspoon. Mix well.

Pour our prepared solution with vitriol into a jar until it turns green and place it in a cool place at about 14-16 degrees.

After the solution has cooled, you need to tie a salt crystal to a string. Place the other end on a stick and lower it into the solution to a depth of 10 - 15 mm. And again put it in a cool and dark place. After 2-3 days the crystal will grow. Then it will stop growing and the crystals will seem to climb up. After 5 days you will see the result. The crystal you see has been growing for about two weeks.

Artificial stones have long gained popularity in jewelry. After all, for a jeweler, the value of a stone is determined not only by its scarcity in nature. A number of other characteristics play an important role:

color;
light refraction;
strength;
carat weight;
size and shape of edges, etc.

The most expensive artificial gemstone is cubic zirconia (synonyms: daimonsquay, jevalite, zirconium cube, shelby). Its price is low - less than $10 per 1 carat (that's 0.2 grams). But it is worth noting that as carats increase, the price increases exponentially. For example, a 10 carat diamond costs 100 times more than a 1 carat diamond.

Artificial crystals of jewelry stones can be grown at home. Most of these experiments do not require special preparation; you do not need to set up a chemical laboratory or even purchase special reagents.

To gain experience in growing crystals, start small. We will share techniques for growing beautiful crystals from anything you can actually find in your own kitchen. You won’t need any additional equipment at all, because everything you need is right on the shelves. We will also consider the technology of growing artificial rubies at home!

How to grow ruby crystals synthetically?

Growing ruby crystals can even be a home business option. After all, beautiful synthetic stones are already in great demand among buyers, so if the project is successfully implemented, they can bring you a good profit. Synthetically grown stones are used by jewelers and are also widely used in technology.

Ruby crystals can be grown using standard methods by selecting the right salts. But this will not be as effective as in the case of salt or sugar, and the growth process takes much longer. And the quality will be questionable. After all, a natural ruby on the Mohs hardness scale is second only to Diamond, occupying an honorable 9th place. Naturally, when it comes to business, in most cases they use a different method, developed more than 100 years ago in France.

You will need a special apparatus named after the inventor of this method, i.e. the Verneuil apparatus. With its help, you can grow ruby crystals up to 20-30 carats in size in just a few hours.

Although the technology remains approximately the same. Aluminum dioxide salt with an admixture of chromium oxide is placed in the accumulator of an oxygen-hydrogen burner. We melt the mixture, watching how the ruby actually grows “before our eyes.”

Depending on the composition of the salt you choose, you can adjust the color of the crystals, obtaining artificial emeralds, topazes and completely transparent stones.

Working with the device will require your attention and some experience, but in the future you will have the opportunity to grow crystals that fascinate with their beauty, transparency and play of colors. In the future, such masterpieces are well suited for cutting and polishing, and accordingly, they can be used for their intended purpose.

It is worth noting that artificially grown crystals are not precious stones, so even if you decide to start a business in their cultivation, this will not require additional licensing from you.

The design of the device is simple, you can easily make it yourself. But on the Internet there are already enough craftsmen offering drawings of the original installation, as well as its improved versions.

Kit for growing ruby crystals at home

The very principle of ruby production technology is quite simple and is schematically depicted below in the figure:

Understanding the principle of operation, any device no longer seems so complicated. One of the sample drawings of the Verneuil apparatus:

Using this technology, you can also grow other expensive artificial stones, such as “Blue Topaz”, etc.

Growing salt crystals at home

The easiest and most accessible experiment you can do is to create beautiful salt crystals. To do this you will need several items:

Regular rock salt.
Water. It is important that the water itself contains as few of its own salts as possible, preferably distilled.
The container in which the experiment will be carried out (any jar, glass, pan will do).

Pour warm water into the container (its temperature is about 50°C). Add kitchen salt to the water and stir. After dissolving, add again. We repeat the procedure until the salt stops dissolving, settling to the bottom of the vessel. This indicates that the saline solution has become saturated, which is what we needed. It is important that during the preparation of the solution its temperature remains constant and does not cool down, this way we can create a more saturated solution.

Pour the saturated solution into a clean jar, separating it from the sediment. We select a separate salt crystal, and then place it in a container (you can hang it on a thread). The experiment is completed. After a few days, you will be able to see how your crystal has increased in size.

Growing sugar crystals at home

The technology for producing sugar crystals is similar to the previous method. You can dip a cotton swab into the solution, then sugar crystals will grow on it. If the process of crystal growth has become slower, then the concentration of sugar in the solution has decreased. Add granulated sugar to it again, then the process will resume.

Note: if you add food coloring to the solution, the crystals will become multi-colored.

You can grow sugar crystals on sticks. To do this you will need:

ready-made sugar syrup, prepared similarly to a saturated saline solution;
wooden sticks;
a little granulated sugar;
food coloring (if you want colorful candies).

Everything happens very simply. Dip a wooden stick in syrup and roll in granulated sugar. The more grains stick, the more beautiful the result will be. Let the sticks dry thoroughly, and then simply move on to the second phase.

Pour the saturated hot sugar syrup into a glass, and place the prepared stick there. If you are preparing multi-colored crystals, then add food coloring to the hot finished syrup.

Make sure that the stick does not touch the walls and bottom, otherwise the result will be ugly. You can secure the stick with a piece of paper, putting it on top. The paper will also serve as a lid for the container, which will not allow any foreign particles to get into your solution.

In about a week you will have beautiful sugar lollipops. They can decorate any tea party, bringing complete delight not only to children, but also to adults!

Growing crystals from copper sulfate at home

Crystals from copper sulfate are obtained in interesting shapes and have a rich blue color. It is worth remembering that copper sulfate is a chemically active compound, so crystals from it should not be tasted, and care must be taken when working with the material. For the same reason, only distilled water is suitable in this case. It is important that it is chemically neutral. Be careful and careful when handling copper sulfate.

In this case, the growth of crystals from vitriol occurs virtually according to the same scheme as in previous cases.

When placing the main crystal to be grown in a solution, you need to make sure that it does not come into contact with the walls of the container. And do not forget to monitor the saturation of the solution.

If you place your crystal at the bottom of the vessel, then you should make sure that it does not touch other crystals. In this case, they will grow together, and instead of one beautiful large sample, you will end up with a mass of indistinct shape.

Helpful advice! You can independently adjust the size of the faces of your crystal. If you want some of them to grow more slowly, you can lubricate them with Vaseline or grease. And to preserve the sky-blue beauty, you can treat the edges with transparent varnish.

There are 3 weight categories of diamonds:

Small. Weight 0.29 carats
Average. Weight from 0.3 to 0.99 carats
Large. Diamonds weighing more than 1 carat.

Popular auctions accept stones weighing over 6 carats. Stones weighing more than 25 carats are given their own names. For example: “Winston” diamond (62.05 carats) or “De Beers” (234.5 carats), etc.

Growing salt crystals on different objects as a fun form of art, or just as a science experiment is easy and fun! In this instructable, I'll show you how to make a salt crystal using 3D printed lattices and structures, but you can grow them at home on just about anything you can imagine... even themselves.

The process is simple and takes about an hour to actively prepare and carry out, and then the crystal grows over several days.

If you are growing it as an introductory science experiment, you can demonstrate at home how solutions are created and how crystalline forms of salt are formed. It's fun and interesting to watch!

I started this experiment to see if I could influence the shape to make them grow a certain way or a certain size, which is based on the lattice structure they are grown on.

Step 1: Required Components

To grow your own salt crystals you need:

Salt. Can be grown with almost any salt, however, the best results are achieved using copper sulfate or magnesium sulfate. You can also experiment with table salt, sea salt, pink salt, etc. If you are using copper sulfate, wear nitrile gloves! In my experiments I use magnesium sulfate.
Distilled water
A clean container that is at least 5cm wider than the crystal you want to grow. Transparent containers have an advantage here over painted ones, since through them you can see what is growing inside, and if you also use kitchen utensils, you will be sure that your container is not afraid of heat and will not burst.
Object on which the crystal will grow, or string, experiment with lattice structures like I did!
Something to hang your object from in the solution: stick, chopstick, wire, string, etc.
A saucepan large enough to boil the right amount of water and salt for the project.
Spoon for stirring.

Step 2: Create a saline solution

Measure the volume of water:

Place an object in a container
Fill the container with the object with water to find out how much water you will need
Pour water into a measuring container to determine the resulting volume.

Measure the amount of salt: 3 parts water to 1 part salt (the solution will be just under 30% salt)
Boil the water.
Once boiling, reduce the heat on the stove to low.
Pour the salt into the water and stir until it is completely dissolved. Turn off the stove.
Carefully pour the solution into the container with the object placed in it
Place the container of the solution in the area where you will leave it while it grows.

Step 3: Place the object or string in the saline solution

To simply grow a salt crystal:

Place a chopstick or spoon in the top middle of the container
Wrap the string around the center of the stick/spoon so that it hangs down and is immersed in the solution about 4 cm or more from the bottom of the container.
Leave the container where it will not be disturbed and watch the crystal grow

To grow a salt crystal on an object:

Do almost the same as in the previous list. Hang the object on a string so that it hangs at least 5cm from the bottom of the container. You can hang the object using sticks or wires.

Since I used lattice structures, I hung them with both wire and chopsticks.

Step 4: Wait for the crystals to grow

Don't disturb the container, but keep an eye on how your crystals grow.

I advise you to leave the container for at least 1 day, but for best results allow 3 days to grow. At some point, most of the salt will be in the crystal and it will simply stop growing.

Step 5: Carefully remove your crystals from their solution

When you determine that it has grown to the desired size and shape, gently pull it out by the string, or remove it from the solution. If they are connected to your object through the entire container, then use a knife to carefully separate them from the walls of the container, being careful not to damage the structure of your creation.

Step 6: Want larger crystals?

Before you remove the string or object from the devices you used to hang it, consider whether you want to grow an even larger crystal. If yes, then repeat the process and your crystals will get bigger. Each time you only need to make a new saline solution.

If you are repeating the process to grow larger crystals, it is very important that after boiling the water and creating the saline solution, let the water cool to room temperature before lowering the structure into the solution.

If you do not cool the water, it will dissolve the already prepared ones and you will, as it were, start over.

Step 7: Samples of my work

These are photographs of the same crystals that have passed through three salt solutions, look at the difference in size.

I achieved a relatively smooth transition from object to crystal by lowering the object deeper into the solution each time.

Step 8: Enjoy the results!

Once you have grown them to the desired size, carefully separate the string/object from the fixtures you used to hang them and let the finished product dry on a napkin.

In future experiments, you can try using tap water, bottled water, colored water, and you can also use different types of salt such as iodized salt, iodine-free salt, sea salt, etc.

Having grown them on different structures, have you noticed a difference in their shape?

I was surprised to find that crystals grown at different levels of an object printed from white plastic grew different sizes.

Step 9: More Growing Experiments

Step 10: Additional Growing Information

The study of crystals and their structure is called crystallography. A crystal is a solid composed of various atoms or molecules arranged in a uniform, repeating pattern based on its unique shape. This results in the material having a certain shape and color and having other characteristic properties.

They may be big or small, but they all have the same "shape". Salt and sugar are examples. Table salt NaCl has a cubic structure. Snow crystals form a hexagonal structure. Diamond (used in jewelry and cutting tools) is also an example; it consists of pure carbon. Graphite (used in pencils and lubricants) is also a carbon crystal.

How do crystals grow?

In a solution, the solvent (water) can only hold a certain amount of solute. This is called the solubility of a solution. If the temperature of the solution increases, the hot water will be able to dissolve more solids than the cold water. This is because heated water molecules move further apart, leaving room for the more solid substance to dissolve. When a solid stops dissolving, the solution is considered saturated.

As this solution cools, the water molecules move closer together again, leaving less room in the solution to hold the same amount of dissolved solid. As the water releases excess solute, at this point crystals begin to form and build on each other. This process is called recrystallization and, depending on the conditions, you can get a mass of numerous small crystals or one large crystal.

How are crystals formed and how do we control the rate of their growth?

In this experiment you will grow crystals from a saturated solution. During recrystallization, the beginning of the crystal growth process is called "nucleation". Crystallization can be initiated by dust particles on the surface of the solution, but this situation is uncontrollable. To obtain controlled growth, a “seed crystal” is tied to a piece of thread and immersed in a solution. As the temperature of the solution continues to drop, more crystals accumulate on the string. The speed at which crystallization occurs will affect the quality. The best ones are the ones that grow SLOWLY.

KEY TERMS

A crystal is a solid body with a specific geometric shape. The shape consists of smooth, flat surfaces that meet at sharp edges or corners.

Crystallography is a branch of chemistry that studies crystals and their structure.

Nucleation - When dissolved molecules in a saturated solution encounter a dust particle or a solid surface (such as a string or seed crystal), they will tend to adsorb and accumulate on the surface. The solid surface provides a nucleation site for crystal formation.

Recrystallization is a process that has been used to purify a solid by dissolving it in a suitable liquid and then having the material emerge from solution in crystalline form.

A saturated solution is a solution in which the maximum amount of solutes is dissolved in the solvent.

The seed crystal is the initial surface for the growing crystal.

Crystal shapes are atoms that occupy positions with specific geometric relationships to each other. This structural arrangement of its atoms is uniquely determined by the chemistry of the substance and determines its shape. In crystallography, shapes can be grouped into seven systems: cubic, tetragonal, hexagonal, trigonal, orthorhombic, monoclinic, triclinic.

Solubility - The maximum amount of solute that can be dissolved in a given volume of solvent at a given temperature is known as the solubility of the solute. The solubility of a solute generally increases with increasing temperature.

A solution is a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances. For example, sugar dissolved in water is a solution.

Solvent is a liquid in which a solute is dissolved. In this project, the solvent is water.