From what you can grow a crystal at home. Crystal growing as a business. How to grow a crystal from alum-potassium alum

Growing salt crystals at home is an opportunity not only to quickly observe how similar phenomena occur in nature with other materials, but also to get an unusual craftwork as a result.

Moreover, such a process is completely safe and does not require any deep knowledge in chemistry or any reagents; any person in the house has all the objects and substances.

How to grow salt crystals at home: material and equipment

1. The first and most basic component is salt. For the success of the crystal growing process, it is important that it is as clean as possible. Therefore, it is worth giving preference to sea salt, as there is too much small garbage in the cookbook. It is also not recommended to purchase salt with dyes or other additives.

2. Water, which should also be maximally cleaned of impurities. If it is not possible to use distilled, then it is worth at least pre-filtering it.

3. Non-metallic capacity for crystal growth. Its size can be limited only by the desired crystal size. Important requirements - the container material should not stain water or oxidize under the influence of salts. The container should be washed thoroughly. Any foreign objects inside, even if they are small specks, can become the basis for growth for other small crystals, slowing down the growth of the main one.

4. A small crystalline salt from a pack, piece of branch, leaf, wire, thread or any other object for the foundation of the future large crystal. A suitable large piece of salt is easily found in an almost empty salt shaker. Small particles fall out of it during use, and large ones do not crawl through holes and remain inside. It is necessary to choose the largest and having the shape as close as possible to the box.

5. Something non-metallic for stirring the solution - wooden stickplastic or ceramic spoon, etc.

6. Filter paper or gauze.

7. Napkins or toilet paper.

8. Varnish for coating the finished crystal.

9. Patience. It is not enough to know how to grow crystals from salt at home; you still have to be able to wait. A more or less decent-sized crystal will form no sooner than after 3-4 weeks.

As you can see, no complicated or expensive equipment is required. All these items and substances are easily found in the household of absolutely any person.

How to grow crystals from salt at home: a sequence of steps

The technology for producing a crystal from salt is very simple, in addition, the process requires very little human involvement, basically only time is needed. A container of clean water is placed in warm water (50-60 degrees, no longer needed), and a little salt is added to it, constantly stirring the solution. When it becomes saturated, i.e. there will be so much salt in it that it can no longer dissolve, it is poured into a clean container so that the sediment from the old does not get into it. You can even further clean the solution of impurities by passing it through filter paper or several times folded gauze.

The desired water temperature for heating the solution can be achieved even in the absence of a thermometer. To do this, mix freshly boiled boiling water and water at room temperature in a ratio of about 1 to 2.

For the traditional form of the crystal, it will be a large grain of salt, which is easy to find in any pack;

For an elongated crystal, a thread is lowered into the solution so that it does not touch the walls and bottom;

If you want to get a crystal of a complex and bizarre design, then a small twig or a curved wire is suspended on a thread.

Knowing how to grow crystals from salt at home, you can not limit your imagination to simple-shaped objects. To get not just a crystal, but a truly original craft, you can put a wire bent in the form of a star, snowflake or other similar simple shape into the solution as a basis. In principle, you can use absolutely any item that is not prone to oxidation from salts.

Next, cover the container with a lid, a napkin, a sheet of paper, but in general with anything, just to protect the solution from dust and foreign objects. A container with a growing crystal should be stored in a cool dark place without drafts. Strong mechanical impacts on it should not be allowed - too frequent movements, shaking, etc., as well as regular and significant changes in temperature or humidity, i.e. for example, you shouldn’t definitely place the crystal in the bathroom, as well as near a stove in the kitchen or near heating appliances.

Naturally, the larger the crystal grows, the less salt remains in the surrounding water. Therefore, to accelerate the process approximately once a week - ten days, a new salt-saturated solution must be added to the container. And if the crystal has already grown from an old glass or can, you can shift it into a larger one, trying not to drop or break it, because he is very fragile.

The crystal removed from the solution is dried from the remaining water, gently blotting it with a soft cloth or a regular paper towel. This must be done very carefully, because the crystal is not particularly strong. For safety, the crystal is coated with household or manicure colorless varnish. If this is not done, then the life of this beautiful object will be short-lived. In dry air, the remaining water will quickly evaporate, and it will crumble into powder, but if it is excess moisture, on the contrary, it will absorb excess liquid and spread into a shapeless bunch of individual small crystals or even into the pulp.

White salt is obtained from table salt.

If you want other shades, then you can:

Use another type of salt (for example, copper sulfate for a deep blue color);

Coat the finished crystal not with a transparent, but with a colored coating;

Add food colors to the solution at the stage of preparation of the crystal, for example, those that are used in baking or for Easter eggs. However, such substances can not give very bright colors.

There will be no fundamental difference in the growth rate and the shape of the finished crystal when using table or sea salt. However, in the second case, the crystal will turn out to be more dense in structure and will be more durable.

If the crystal grows a little in the wrong shape you want, then the excess areas can be carefully scraped off with a knife or nail file, remembering that the crystal is very fragile. It is easy to give the crystal the desired shape if you process those areas whose growth is undesirable with ordinary petroleum jelly or other thick fatty substance. If you need to remove it, then this can be done with acetone or alcohol.

To break the crystal, as if branching in different directions, a small amount of glycerol is added to the solution.

Precautionary measures

Salt is an absolutely harmless substance for humans, because every day we eat it without any health consequences. Therefore, there is no need to follow any safety precautions when growing a salt crystal.

However, to prevent foreign objects from getting into the solution, you should at least collect the hair, but rather cover it with a scarf, and wash your hands with soap and even wear rubber gloves. And if there are scratches or wounds on the hands, it is simply necessary to wear gloves, otherwise a strong saline solution will strongly pinch. Nothing fatal or harmful, but the feeling is not pleasant. Similarly, it is better to protect hands if salt with dyes is used, and there is a likelihood of an allergy to these dyes.

But when working with copper sulfate and other more aggressive salts, it is imperative to observe safety precautions, trying not to inhale the solution, to prevent it from getting on the skin, as well as to be in a well-ventilated room and not allow small children or pets to grow in crystals to the container. . The containers used for this chemical experiment can in no case be used later for the ingestion or storage of food, medicine, personal hygiene items, cosmetics, in general, all that will subsequently be directly in contact with the human body.

How to grow salt crystals at home: reasons for failure

Why did a piece of salt, taken as a basis, dissolve instead of forming a crystal around itself? This means that the salt solution was initially not saturated enough. When preparing it, salt should be slightly added until it no longer dissolves, but precipitates. Easily found on the Internet graphs of the solubility of these salts in water at a certain temperature will help you choose the proportions of food and other salts for the preparation of the solution.

If instead of one, several small crystals suddenly grew in the container, then this indicates foreign impurities in the solution. This can be either insufficiently filtered water, litter in salt or a poorly washed container where the solution was poured.

What is the reason for insufficiently uniform color of a colored crystal? Perhaps when dye was added, it was not very thoroughly mixed. And if the crystal is large, and for it the salt solution was prepared several times, then significantly less or more was added to one of the dyes than to others.

Of course, even knowing how to grow crystals from salt at home and following all the recommendations, you can get not quite what you wanted. This is normal, because the conditions in which the growing crystal is placed and the substances used for this can differ. However, over time, you will certainly be able to fill your hand, choose the optimal proportions of the components and conditions for crystal growth.

Our little new acquaintance Djinn promised to show and teach how to grow crystals at home. Young archaeologists share with us their impressions and lessons learned.

What are crystals?

Crystals are solids that have the natural external shape of regular symmetrical polyhedra, based on their internal structure. The first crystal research dates back to the early 17th century.

They grow and “multiply” independently, which is why they can rightly be called “living”. To “nourish” most crystals, water is required as their main ingredient.

How to grow a fluffy crystal

Fluffy crystal - amazing and very fragile. On its basis, modern "chemically grown trees" are based. We ! And today we have completely grown such a tree ourselves.

To grow a fluffy crystal we needed:

Polyvinyl alcohol
Hot water
Urea
Dye
Liquid soap
Filter paper
Petri dish or saucer
Measuring spoon
Glass jar
Beaker

As in creating the fascinating, first you need to dissolve 5 g of polyvinyl alcohol in 100 ml of hot water in a glass jar in a water bath.

And now the creative process: we create a “tree” from filter paper. To do this, cut out a rectangle from a circle and make a cylinder out of it, fastening it with a stapler. After that, we cut one edge into the "petals" and slightly bend them to the side.

Fluffy Crystal Growth Experiment

Prepare a saturated urea solution. To do this, pour 15 g of urea and several dye grains into a glass.

After stirring, add 15 ml of hot water.

After thoroughly mixing the solution, add 2 ml of the prepared solution of polyvinyl alcohol to a glass. For more intensive crystal growth, it is recommended to add a couple drops of liquid soap.

Now we pour the solution into the Petri dish, in the center of which we place the made base for crystals - “wood”. And ... we are watching and wonder!

The first crystals appeared in us after 20 minutes:

Here they were in an hour:

In a day:

The crystals grow intensively and quickly, but at the same time they are very fragile. But to be honest, this property is very fascinating for children. Because when I allowed them to do whatever they want with the trees at the end of the experiment, they with great pleasure and for a long time "broke" fluffy crystals, examined them, carefully studied, touched ...

How to grow a polycrystal

Polycrystal - This is a crystal consisting of many differently oriented small single crystals. Due to their irregular shape, they are often called crystallites.

To grow a polycrystal at home, you need to get the following:

Dye
Ammonium monophosphate
Hot water
Wand
Thread
Measuring spoon
Beaker

Carrying out an experiment on growing polycrystals at home

We prepare a saturated solution of ammonium monophosphate. To do this, pour the substance into a measuring cup to the level of 100 ml, add dye and pour 150 ml of hot water. Stir the solution thoroughly for a couple of minutes.

Now we attach the thread to the stick and for 2-3 minutes lower its end into the resulting solution to a depth of about 5 cm. After that, take out the thread and leave it to dry for 10-15 minutes. Thus, the mechanism of formation of crystal growth centers on a thread is launched.

Again, lower the thread into the solution and observe. Intensive crystal growth begins in an hour:

The longer the crystal remains in solution, the larger it becomes.

We watched an interesting picture. In addition to the thread, we left a stick for stirring in a glass with a solution, and now no less beautiful polycrystals grew on it, which very quickly turned into “ice cream on a stick” and for a long time carried away the son.

Polycrystals grow very beautiful. They are interesting to look at in the light. The light is refracted from the edges and gives out a small rainbow ...

How to grow a single crystal

Single crystal - a single homogeneous crystal having a continuous crystal lattice. Growing a single crystal at home requires significantly more time and these ingredients and materials:

Alum Potassium Alum
Hot water
Dye if desired
Measuring spoon
Filter paper
Beaker
Stir stick

First you need to prepare a "seed". For her, we prepare a solution of 3 spoons of potassium alum and 50 ml of hot water.

Now we pass the solution through the filter, folding it in the form of a funnel. Filtering takes a long time. When the son wanted to speed it up, stirring with a stick, the paper was torn and I had to do it all over again. So, it’s better not to rush.

The filtered solution, covered with paper, must be left for 10-15 hours. During this time, potassium alum crystals are formed at the bottom of the glass, which will serve as the “seed”.

Drain the saturated solution into an empty glass, select the largest crystal and tie it to the tip of the thread. We attach the other end of the thread to the stick.

Once again, we prepare a solution of potassium alum and hot water, using this time the ratio: 9 spoons of a substance and 150 ml of water. If desired, dye may be added to the still dry substance.

When the solution cools down, filter it and lower the thread with the “seed”. We cover the glass with paper and be patient: the crystal grows for a long time - 3-4 weeks.

Unfortunately, we did not succeed in growing a single crystal. Apparently we were in a hurry and we got several foci of growth. Thus we have grown another polycrystal ...

To carry out all these fascinating experiments on growing crystals at home, we used only one set with chemical experiments for children from "" - Secrets of crystals .

Several days of experiments flew by quickly and excitingly. Every morning, the son hurried to watch how his crystals grew.

And we also had experience growing crystals from salt. The result was a beautiful white polycrystal ... Have you grown crystals at home? Share your experience and impressions!

PS: You can purchase these and other sets of the SuperProfessor series here.

I wish you an exciting summer!

With warmth

Alexey, Arseny and Lyudmila Porcepun.

If you are fond of various experiments in the field of chemistry, then as a hobby, we suggest you try growing crystals at home. It is very interesting when different crystalline splendor grows out of nothing before your eyes, surprising with the perfection of forms and color scheme. You just need to know that at home it takes a lot of time, the process of crystal formation is not always fast. But the result is that slow speed means the formation of a large crystal, and vice versa: the faster the process, the smaller the size of the formed crystals.

There are various ways to grow a crystal at home. Among them: lowering the temperature of the substance, evaporation of excess liquid from the solution. In order not to be unsubstantiated and give practical advice on how to start with the simplest substance, with salt. So, we take a glass, pour water into it and put it in a pan with tap water heated to about 50-60 degrees. Pour salt into a glass and leave for 5 minutes to dissolve. Consider how you will maintain the temperature of the water in the pan, because you need to keep it warm at all times. You do this several times until the salt stops dissolving. Per 100 grams of water requires at least 35 grams of salt. As a result, you will get a saturated solution, which must be poured into another transparent dish, making sure that no excess settled and undissolved salt gets into it. Now find some more or less large crystalline salt, tie it to a thread and hang it like that. so that it does not touch the walls of the glass. And that’s all, it remains to wait a few days. Until the crystal takes the size you expect. Repeating the procedure again, you can increase the size of the crystals to infinity.

Thus, you can grow crystals at home from any salt. From both blue and red crystals can be obtained. In the same way as in the above process, you get a saturated solution of this salt. Only tap water will not work. You have to worry about taking distilled somewhere, because you cannot get a pure solution of copper sulfate otherwise.

And red crystals at home are obtained in the following way. You will need copper sulfate, blotting paper cut in the form of a section of the container and the usual buttons. Such growing crystals at home begins with a little copper sulfate placed evenly on the bottom of the glass, salt is poured on top and this mixture is covered with a circle of blotters on which buttons or a steel plate are placed. After that, it is necessary to pour over the entire contents to the top of a saturated solution of sodium chloride prepared in advance by the above-described method. Put this dish where it can be left unattended for about one week. And then you will see how beautiful red acicular crystals grow.

Crystal growth at home is also possible in a multi-layer color form. For this, alum is needed, from which saturated solutions are prepared, in which various crystals are grown. And then they are alternately transferred from one solution to another. This is already a more complex process, for the implementation of which you need to have some knowledge in the field of chemical science. First, alum dissolves at a fairly high temperature. Secondly, when stored in air, they can evaporate. Therefore, the results of growing such crystals can be negative. So, you should start such experiments only if you are not afraid of disappointments.

Crystals can be grown from almost any substance. Crystals are obtained from proteins, iodine, various metals. Not many people know that even from the air you can get crystals by cooling it to a certain temperature. However, in a normal environment, it is most easy to grow crystals from inorganic salts. In this article, we will consider a method for growing crystals of copper sulfate, which is easy to find and purchase.

First of all, we suggest that you familiarize yourself with the experience process in the video

What do we need:
- copper sulfate;
- a glass;
- hot water;
- plate;
- cardboard;
- colorless nail polish

The very first thing to do before starting to grow a crystal is to seed, that is, a crystal that is subsequently lowered into the solution. This crystal will continue to grow. The seed should be about the size of a pea.

To get started, take a glass and pour salt into it in about half or a third of a glass.

Then we pour hot water into our cup, and mix everything thoroughly.

Checking if enough salt has been poured is quite simple. To do this, continue to pour salt until it stops dissolving.

After the salt has ceased to dissolve, and the solution has become as saturated as possible, it must be filtered, since usually in the salts there are impurities of various insoluble substances.

After the solution is filtered, you need to drop a small amount of small crystals to the bottom and leave this glass for a day to form large crystals at the bottom.

After 24 hours, large crystals form at the bottom of the glass, the size of which is quite suitable for seed.

We merge the solution into another glass, because you need to pick out the resulting mass of crystals. To do this, take a knife and pick open the grown mass of crystals at the bottom of the glass.

Pour crystals into a plate and select the smoothest and largest crystal.

After we have chosen the largest and most “successful” crystal, it must be tied with a thread.

You also need to take a piece of cardboard and make a simple system, as shown in the figure below.

We hang the crystal in a glass with a solution. The system from a piece of cardboard, which the author uses, as well as which we offer, allows us to provide the most efficient environment for growing crystals. Thanks to this system, dust does not enter the glass.

Crystal growth requires considerable time and patience.

Crystals always attract attention with their beauty, naturalness and unusualness. These characteristics are possessed not only by natural types of stones, but also artificially created. Many needlewomen, beginner chemists are wondering how to grow a crystal from salt at home? Let's deal with this problem, and also find out what is necessary to create such beauty, how to accelerate the growth process, what to add to the solution to get a bright blue or blue stone.

What you need to grow crystals at home

To grow a real crystal at home, you need special dishes and an appropriate solution. The process is very long, so nothing can happen in a matter of days. Stone growth depends on many factors: the saturation of the solution, temperature and humidity, the type of salt used for the crystal, the base. To successfully grow such beauty, you need to prepare:

The capacity where the salt crystal will grow (sizes can be any, it all depends on the desired size of the stone). The material from which the dishes are made is important. It should not be oxidized in salt water and give color.
Salt (which is used in household use).
Stick to interfere with mortar (wood or glass).
White filter paper or cloth.

How to quickly grow a crystal from salt and water

When wondering how to grow a crystal from salt, get ready that for this task you will need from 3 weeks to 6-7 months, depending on the desired size of the final product. The resulting stone will be very brittle, so do not touch it with your hands. To preserve such a masterpiece for a long time, cover the product with transparent varnish. Consider the step-by-step process of preparing a crystal from table salt:

Take a small container, preferably transparent.
Mix pure distilled water at room temperature with salt. Pour a lot of the second ingredient until mixing with the liquid becomes difficult. After saturating the solution, put this dish in a water bath, and melt the salt in it until a homogeneous mass is obtained.
Using a thick gauze or cloth, strain the liquid to separate solid impurities.
Next, take an ordinary white thread, attach a small crystalline salt to it and lower it to a chilled liquid. If there is no such pebble, take any plastic hard object previously soaked in the prepared water and dried.
On the second edge of the thread, tie a crossbeam (for example, a pencil, ruler or pen), which will be wider than the neck of the selected dishes. This item will be fixed on a container of salt water, so that the small crystal on the thread is suspended.
Cover the resulting structure with paper, napkins or cloth and place in the place where the temperature changes are less noticeable.
If the selected container is transparent, then it is easy to track how fast the salt crystal is growing. If you don’t see this size, from time to time you can raise the thread with a stone and check. But do not touch your fingers with it and do not cling the stone to the edges of the structure.
In a month, the product will increase in size and become at least the size of beans.
After waiting a little longer (month 2), you will find that the stone has become about 3-4 cm in diameter.
If the size of the crystal suits you, remove it, wipe it with dry wipes and cover with a clear varnish (for nails or others). When the substance dries, the stone can be picked up and admired.

Color Crystal: Blue or Blue DIY

How to grow a crystal from blue salt? Only with the use of special food colors, which can give not a bright shade. When mixing salt and water, it is worth adding a small amount of blue there. When the molecules begin to combine, the crystal will acquire an unusual blue tint. To grow a bright blue stone will have to deal with copper sulfate.

You can buy this substance in any store for gardeners and gardeners. It is necessary to do the same actions with it as with salt. But since the chemical composition of copper sulfate can be hazardous to health, it is recommended to remove the solution out of the reach of children and animals. Here's a step-by-step process for creating a navy blue crystal:

How to make a large white crystal from sea salt

When using the classic version of growing crystals, they are made from table salt, which is used as food. This product is present in large quantities on the shelves of any grocery store and is very inexpensive. But from which salts is it better to grow crystals? Sea salt is also suitable for the intended purpose. The difference is what the result will be.

To obtain unusual masterpieces of nature, you need to put in one container to grow a crystal from table salt, and in another - from sea. In the second case, the growth rate may be greater, as well as the density of the resulting stone. The appearance of the crystals may also differ, but only slightly, since the molecules of sea and table salt are almost the same.

To make a large white crystal from sea salt, use this method:

Prepare a clear glass (or glass jar) for the future process.
Dissolve a large amount of sea salt in warm spring water, strain the liquid through a dense cloth or gauze.
Pour saturated solution into the selected beaker.
Take one crystal of sea salt, tie a thread to it and lower it into a container with the resulting liquid for several weeks or months.
When the size of the stone is as you need, take it out, dry it with napkins and varnish.
Having received a white stone, you will not be able to paint it in a different color, since food paints will drain from the walls. The only way to get a bright shade of stone is to add pigment directly to the solution from which the crystal will grow.
If during the growth of the stone the liquid level drops to a minimum, pour a solution of the same consistency into the container.

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