Saturday, 15 March 2014

Investigating Crystals

Brody was so excited when his ice experiment book went home that he came back to school and announced he just had to do another experiment. A scientist in the making? Maybe. A thinker that leads the way? Absolutely!

After discussing a few ideas, we decided on the making of salt crystals. "Whoa! Take a good picture of this one Mrs. Brent!"


Ingredients: Epsom salts, very warm water, food colour



Stir epsom salts until dissolved. Add a couple drops of food colour. We added some chenille sticks for the crystals to stick to.
Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Watch what happens when the water evaporates and the salt is left behind.

Some worked and some didn't. Why? 
"This one did real good. It got stirred enough."
"Maybe the other blue one needed more salt."
"It should've got stirred more."

More children wanted to experiment.

Kylynn studied the salt crystal on her finger and was ready to make some of her own.
 Addison wanted to touch the crystals. "They're cold."
Mrs. Brent asked, "I wonder if they're sharp?"
"Nope. I can break them."
Mrs. Brent asked, "I wonder if they'll melt?"
"Some are fuzzy and some are straight." 
Mrs. Brent said, "I think some look like cauliflower and some look like needles."
 These crystals need closer examination. 

Peyton and Mrs. Brent looked at crystal pictures on the computer. They saw a giant crystal cave! 
Wow! We can't wait for Brody's next experiment idea!

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