What can you grow a crystal from at home? Growing crystals as a business. How to grow a crystal from 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 obtain as a result unusual craft.

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

How to grow crystals from salt 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 pure as possible. Therefore, you should give preference to sea salt, because... there is too much small debris in the kitchen room. It is also not recommended to purchase salt with dyes or other additives.

2. Water, which should also be as clean as possible from foreign impurities. If it is not possible to use distilled water, then it is worth at least filtering it first.

3. Non-metallic container for crystal growth. Its size can be limited only by the desired dimensions of the crystal. Important requirements - the material of the container should not color the 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 the growth of other small crystals, slowing down the growth of the main one.

4. A small crystal of salt from a pack, piece of branch, leaf, wire, thread or any other object for the basis of a future large crystal. A suitable large piece of salt can be easily found in an almost empty salt shaker. Small particles fall out of it when used, but large particles do not fit through the holes and remain inside. It is necessary to choose the largest one and having a shape as close as possible to a parallelepiped.

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

6. Filter paper or gauze.

7. Paper 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 also need to be able to wait. A crystal of more or less decent size will form no earlier than in 3-4 weeks.

As you can see, no complex or expensive equipment is required. All these items and substances are easy to find in absolutely any person’s household.

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

The technology for obtaining a crystal from salt is very simple, and the process requires very little human intervention, mostly just time. A container with clean water is placed in warm water (50-60 degrees, no more), and salt is gradually poured into it, constantly stirring the solution. When it becomes saturated, i.e. there will be so much salt in it that it will no longer be able to dissolve; it is poured into a clean container so that sediment from the old one does not fall into it. You can even further clean the solution from impurities by passing it through filter paper or gauze folded several times.

It is possible to achieve the required water temperature for heating the solution without a thermometer. To do this, mix just boiled boiling water and water at room temperature in a ratio of approximately 1 to 2.

For the traditional crystal shape, this 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 hang a small twig or curved wire on a thread.

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

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

Naturally, the larger the crystal grows, the less salt remains in the surrounding water. Therefore, to speed up the process, approximately once a week - ten days it is necessary to add a new salt-saturated solution to the container. And if the crystal has already grown out of an old glass or jar, you can transfer it to a larger one, trying not to drop it or break it, because he is very fragile.

The crystal removed from the solution is dried to remove any remaining water by gently dabbing it with a soft cloth or ordinary paper napkin. This must be done very carefully, because the crystal is not particularly strong. For preservation, the crystal is coated with household or manicure colorless varnish. If this is not done, then the life of this beautiful item will be short-lived. In dry air, the remaining water will quickly evaporate, and it will crumble into powder, but with excess humidity, on the contrary, it will absorb excess liquid and spread into a shapeless pile of individual small crystals or even into a pulp.

Table salt will produce white crystals.

If you want other shades, you can:

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

Cover the finished crystal with a colored coating rather than a transparent one;

Add food coloring to the solution at the crystal preparation stage, for example, those used in baking or for Easter eggs. However, such substances cannot produce very bright colors.

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

If the crystal grows in a slightly different shape than 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 treat those areas whose growth is undesirable with ordinary Vaseline or other thick, greasy substance. If you need to remove it, this can be done with acetone or alcohol.

To make the crystal split, as if branching in different directions, a small amount of glycerin is added to the solution.

Precautionary measures

Table salt is an absolutely harmless substance for humans, because we eat it every day 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 your hair, or better yet, cover it with a scarf, and wash your hands with soap or even wear rubber gloves. And if there are scratches or wounds on your hands, you simply need to wear gloves, otherwise the strong saline solution will sting strongly. Nothing fatal or harmful, but not a pleasant feeling. Similarly, it is better to protect your hands if salt with dyes is used, and there is a possibility of an allergy to these dyes.

But when working with copper sulfate and other more aggressive salts, you must take precautions, trying not to inhale the solution, avoid getting it on your skin, and also be in a well-ventilated area and keep small children or pets away from the growing crystals. . Under no circumstances should the containers used for this chemical experiment be subsequently used for receiving or storing food, medicines, personal hygiene items, cosmetics, in general, anything that will subsequently come into direct contact with the human body.

How to grow crystals from salt at home: reasons for failure

Why did the piece of salt used as a base dissolve instead of forming a crystal around itself? This means that the salt solution was not saturated enough to begin with. When preparing it, salt must be added little by little until it no longer dissolves and begins to precipitate. Charts of the solubility of these salts in water of a certain temperature, easily found on the Internet, will help you select the proportions of food and other salts for preparing the solution.

If instead of one, several small crystals suddenly grow in the container, then this indicates foreign impurities in the solution. This could be either insufficiently well-filtered water, debris in the salt, or a poorly washed container into which the solution was poured.

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

Of course, even knowing how to grow crystals from salt at home and following all the recommendations, you may not get exactly what you wanted. This is normal, because the conditions in which the growing crystal is placed and the substances used for this may differ. However, over time, you will definitely be able to get the hang of it, select the optimal proportions of components and conditions for crystal growth.

Our little new friend Genie promised to show and teach how to grow crystals at home. Young archaeologists share with us their impressions and acquired experience.

What are crystals?

Crystals are solids having natural external form regular symmetrical polyhedra based on their internal structure. The first studies of crystals date back to early XVII century.

They grow and “reproduce” on their own, which is why they can rightfully be called “alive”. To “feed” most crystals, water is required as their main ingredient.

How to grow a fluffy crystal

Fluffy crystal - amazing and very fragile. Modern “chemically grown trees” are based on it. We ! And today we have grown such a tree entirely 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 vessel
Beaker

As when creating something exciting, you first 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 this, we cut one edge into “petals” and bend them slightly to the side.

The progress of the experiment on growing a fluffy crystal

Let's prepare a saturated solution of urea. To do this, pour 15g of urea and a few grains of dye into a glass.

After stirring, add 15 ml of hot water.

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

Now we pour the solution into a Petri dish, in the center of which we place the prepared base for the crystals - the “tree”. And... we watch and are surprised!

We got our first crystals within 20 minutes:

This is what they looked like an hour later:

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 captivating for children. Because when I allowed them to do whatever they wanted with the trees at the end of the experiment, they “broke” the fluffy crystals with great pleasure and for quite a long time, looked at them, carefully studied them, touched them...

How to grow polycrystal

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

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

Dye
Ammonium monophosphate
Hot water
Wand
Thread
measuring spoon
Beaker

Conducting an experiment on growing polycrystals at home

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

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

We lower the thread into the solution again and observe. Intensive crystal growth begins within an hour:

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

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

Polycrystals grow very beautiful. They are interesting to look at in the light. The light refracts from the edges and produces a small rainbow...

How to grow a single crystal

Monocrystal- a separate homogeneous crystal having a continuous crystal lattice. Growing a single crystal at home requires much more time and these are the ingredients and materials:

Potassium alum
Hot water
Dye if desired
measuring spoon
Filter paper
Beaker
Stirring stick

First you need to prepare the “seed”. For it 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 into a funnel. Filtration takes long time. When my son wanted to speed it up by stirring with a stick, the paper tore and had to be done all over again. So, it's better not to rush.

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

After pouring the saturated solution into an empty glass, select the largest crystal and tie it to the tip of a thread. We tie the second end of the thread to a stick.

We again prepare a solution of potassium alum and hot water, this time using the ratio: 9 spoons of the substance and 150 ml of water. If desired, you can add dye to the still dry substance.

When the solution has cooled, filter it and lower the thread with the “seed”. Cover the glass with paper and be patient: the crystal takes a long time to grow - 3-4 weeks.

Unfortunately, we were unable to grow a single crystal. Apparently we were in too much of a hurry and ended up with several pockets of growth. Thus, we have grown another polycrystal...

To conduct all these exciting experiments on growing crystals at home, we used just one set of chemical experiments for children from "" - Secrets of crystals .

Several days of experiments passed quickly and excitingly. Every morning my son hurried to see how much his crystals had grown.

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 from the “SuperProfessor” series here.

I wish you an exciting summer!

With warmth,

Alexey, Arseny and Lyudmila Potsepun.

If you are interested in various experiments in the field of chemistry, then we suggest you try growing crystals at home as a hobby. It’s very interesting when different crystalline splendors grow out of nothing before your eyes, surprising you with the perfection of their shapes and colors. You just need to know that at home it takes quite a lot of time; the process of crystal formation does not always go quickly. But the result is that a slow speed means the formation of a large crystal, and vice versa: the faster the process, the smaller the size of the crystals formed.

You can grow a crystal at home different ways. Among them: lowering the temperature of the substance, evaporation of excess liquid from the solution. In order not to be unfounded and give practical advice Regarding that, let's start with the simplest substance, table salt. So, take a glass, pour water into it and place it in a pan with tap water heated to about 50-60 degrees. Pour salt into a glass and leave for 5 minutes until it dissolves. Think about how you will maintain the temperature of the water in the pan, because you need it to be warm at all times. You do this several times until the salt stops dissolving. For 100 grams of water, at least 35 grams of salt is required. As a result, you will receive a saturated solution, which must be poured into another transparent container, making sure that excess settled and undissolved salt does not get into it. Now find some more or less large crystal of salt, tie it by a thread and hang it like that. so that it does not touch the walls of the glass. And that's it, all you have to do is wait a few days. Until the crystal takes on the size you expect. By repeating the procedure again, you can increase the size of the crystals indefinitely.

This way you can grow crystals at home from any salts. You can get both blue and red crystals from it. In exactly the same way as in the above process, you get a saturated solution of this salt. Tap water alone will not work. You'll have to worry about getting distilled somewhere, because the solution is pure copper sulfate otherwise you won't get it.

And red crystals are obtained at home in the following way. You will need copper sulfate, blotting paper cut in the shape of a cross-section of a container and regular buttons. Growing crystals at home in this way begins by placing a little copper sulfate evenly on the bottom of a glass, pouring table salt on top, and covering this mixture with a circle of blotting paper, on which buttons or a steel plate are placed. Then, the entire contents must be filled to the top with a saturated solution of table salt, prepared in advance in the manner described above. Place this dish where it will not be moved for about one week. And then you will see beautiful red needle crystals grow.

Growing crystals at home is also possible in multi-layered colored form. This requires alum, 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 a more complex process, for which you need to have some knowledge in the field of chemical science. Firstly, alum dissolves at a fairly high temperature. Secondly, when stored in air, they can evaporate. Therefore, the results of growing such crystals may 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, and various metals. Not many people know that crystals can even be obtained from air by cooling it to a certain temperature. However, in ordinary media it is easiest to grow crystals from inorganic salts. In this material we will look at a method of growing crystals from copper sulfate, which is easy to find and purchase.

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

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

The very first thing you need to do before you start growing a crystal is to make a seed, that is, a crystal that is subsequently lowered into the solution. This crystal will continue to grow. The size of the seed should be approximately the size of a pea.

To begin, take a glass and pour about half or a third of the glass of salt into it.

Next, pour hot water into our glass and mix everything thoroughly.

You can check whether you have added enough salt quite simply. To do this, you need to continue pouring salt until it stops dissolving.

After the salt has stopped dissolving and the solution has become as saturated as possible, it must be filtered, since salts usually contain impurities of various insoluble substances.

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

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

We pour the solution into another glass, since you need to pick out the resulting mass of crystals. To do this, take a knife and pick out the fused mass of crystals at the bottom of the glass.

Pour the 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 cardboard system that the author uses and that we also offer provides the most efficient environment for growing crystals. Thanks to this system, no dust gets into the glass.

Crystal growth requires a lot of time and patience.

Crystals always attract attention with their beauty, naturalness and unusualness. Not only natural types of stones, but also artificially created ones have such characteristics. Many needlewomen and novice chemists are wondering how to grow a crystal from salt at home? Let's figure out this problem, and also find out what is needed to create such beauty, how to speed up the growth process, what to add to the solution to get a bright blue or light 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 may happen in a matter of days. The growth of the stone depends on many factors: the saturation of the solution, temperature and humidity, the type of salt used for the crystal, and the base. To successfully grow such beauty you need to prepare:

A container where the salt crystal will grow (the dimensions 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 oxidize in salt water and give off color.
Table salt (which is used in household use).
A stick to stir the solution (made of wood or glass).
White filter paper or napkins.

How to quickly grow a crystal from table salt and water

When wondering how to grow a crystal from salt, be prepared that this task will take you from 3 weeks to 6-7 months, depending on the desired size of the final product. The resulting stone will be very brittle, so you should not touch it with your hands. To preserve such a masterpiece for a long time, coat the product with clear varnish. Let's consider step by step process preparing a crystal from table salt:

Take a small container, preferably transparent.
Mix clean distilled water at room temperature with salt. Pour in a lot of the second ingredient until mixing with the liquid becomes difficult. After the solution is saturated, place this dish in a water bath and melt the salt in it until a homogeneous mass is obtained.
Using thick gauze or a napkin, strain the liquid to remove solid impurities.
Next, take an ordinary white thread, tie a small crystal of salt to it and lower it to the cooled liquid. If there is no such stone, take any hard plastic object, previously soaked in prepared water and dried.
Tie a crossbar (for example, a pencil, ruler or pen) to the second edge of the thread, which will be wider than the neck of the selected dish. This item will be fixed to 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 it in a place where temperature changes are least noticeable.
If the selected container is transparent, then it is easy to see how fast the salt crystal is growing. If the dimensions are not visible, from time to time you can lift the thread with the stone and check. But do not touch it with your fingers and do not catch the stone on the edges of the structure.
After a month, the product will increase in size and become at least the size of a bean.
After waiting a little more (2 months), you will find that the stone has become about 3-4 cm in diameter.
If you are satisfied with the size of the crystal, take it out, wipe it with dry cloths and cover it with clear varnish (nail or other). When the substance dries, the stone can be picked up and admired.

Colored crystal: blue or blue with your own hands

How to grow a crystal from blue salt? Only using special food coloring, which may not give a bright shade. When mixing salt and water, you should also add a small amount of blue. When the molecules begin to connect, the crystal will take on an unusual blue hue. To grow a bright blue stone, you will have to deal with copper sulfate.

You can buy this substance at any store for gardeners and summer residents. You need to do the same things with it as with salt. But since chemical composition Copper sulfate can be hazardous to health; it is recommended to keep the solution out of the reach of children and animals. Here is the step-by-step process for creating a dark blue crystal:

How to make a large white crystal from sea salt

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

To obtain unusual masterpieces of nature, you need to put a crystal from table salt in one container, and from sea salt in another. In the second case, the growth rate may be greater, as well as the density of the resulting stone. Appearance 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 transparent glass (or glass jar) for a future process.
Dissolve a large amount of sea salt in warm spring water, strain the liquid through a thick cloth or gauze.
Pour the saturated solution into the selected glass.
Take one crystal of sea salt, tie a thread to it and put it in a container with the resulting liquid for several weeks or months.
When the size of the stone is the size you need, remove it, dry it with napkins and varnish it.
Once you receive a white stone, you will not be able to paint it a different color, since the food coloring will run off the walls. The only way to obtain a bright shade of a stone is to add pigment directly to the solution from which the crystal will grow.
If the liquid level drops to a minimum as the stone grows, pour a solution of the same consistency into the container.

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