Growing Rock Candy Crystals

Sugar sucrose crystals are one of the few types of crystals you can grow and eat.

Growing rock candy crystals.

The biggest exception is rock candy which consists of sugar or sucrose crystals. As in the rock candy project you made a saturated solution of borax which is a chemical that forms crystals when the conditions are right. How to grow rock candy. A seed crystal isn t necessary as long as you re using a rough string or yarn.

It s also an excellent opportunity to get creative in the kitchen because the color and flavoring combinations you can create are endless. In this science fair project you will make a saturated solution of sugar and water in order to grow your own rock candy sugar crystals. Sugar like many other materials can come in many different physical states. Grow rock candy or sugar crystals.

As a solid it can either be amorphous without shape like when it forms cotton candy or crystalline with a highly ordered structure and shape like when it forms rock. You can use any type of sugar you have handy plus these are easy crystals to color and flavor. You might want to grow a seed crystal a small crystal to weight your string and provide a surface for larger crystals to grow on. Rock candy is a collection of large sugar crystals that are grown from a sugar water solution.

Better yet it doubles as a science experiment because you get to watch the sugar crystals grow. You only need a few common kitchen materials for this crystal project. Rock candy is easy to make at home it tastes great and it s a fun recipe to do with kids. You will compare the rate of growth between rock candy that is left to nucleate on its own in the solution and rock candy that starts off with some assistance.

This recipe is for rock candy that you can eat. Allow the skewers to dry completely before proceeding to the next step. Sugar crystals are called rock candy because these hard crystals are edible. Making your own rock candy is a fun and tasty way to grow crystals and see the structure of sugar on a big scale.

Growing sugar crystals is a fun and easy science experiment for kids. Tie the string to a pencil or butter knife. Most crystals you can grow look pretty but aren t good to eat. Are your kids always in the kitchen looking for a snack.

By mixing it with hot water and letting it cool and having something for the borax solute molecules to attach to the pipe cleaner shape you gave the solution the right conditions to grow crystals. Sugar crystals in granulated sugar display a monoclinic form but you can see the shape much better in homegrown large crystals. You can eat the natural clear crystals or you can color and flavor them. Rock candy is another name for sugar or sucrose crystals.

3 cups sugar sucrose.