How To Make Crystals With Table Salt – Table salt, or sodium chloride (NaCl), is a readily available chemical. Also, unlike copper compounds, it forms fine cubic crystals which are stable and non-toxic in dry air. It’s no wonder that nearly every crystal growing book for kids recommends table salt. The instructions are very simple: make a saturated solution, add small seed crystals and slowly evaporate. And voila!
But it barely works. With some patience, you can create beautiful transparent cubes… only a few millimeters in size. Most of the time you won’t get it. This method works well with copper sulfate, aluminum, and many other salts, but not with NaCl. I think the author of all these books quoted other people and never tried to follow their instructions.
How To Make Crystals With Table Salt
Why talk about different salts and try to grow them: … small (sub-millimeter) squares with a smooth surface growing on the bottom of a glass dish or container or on a string hanging from the container (see photo). on the right). Larger crystals tend to have bunker faces or even irregular growth habits… Crystal Growth Glass Dome Several factors contribute to this problem. First, NaCl tends to form Hopper’s face. With some substances, such as bismuth, it sometimes gives good results, but not with table salt. You get dendrites, white crystalline crusts, hollow flat rectangles – anything but the transparent cubes drawn in books. And NaCl crystallizes easily, using every crack, even the smallest dust grain, as a seed.
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Table salt crystals, grown in 7 months. The largest is about 2 cm. The yellow material is a compound of iron(III) chloride.
So, without trickery, you won’t get the large (relatively) clear crystals shown in the image above. I want to share a trick that I discovered by accident. I don’t know if this is the best way to grow NaCl crystals at home, but at least it worked for me.
The trick is to use a mixed solution of salt and iron(III) chloride, FeCl3, rather than pure NaCl solution (which is usually recommended). The latter is a brown crystalline solid that is highly soluble in water. It is used by hobbyists to make printed circuit boards and can be purchased at most hobbyist electronics stores.
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Changing salt crystal growth: bigger and more transparent. Ferric chloride itself does not get into the crystals, but sometimes a small part of the ferrous solution gets into the clear crystals, forming yellow dots inside.
Salt crystals are hard and very stable in air because they contain no water of crystallization (unlike copper(II) sulfate which slowly loses its transparency when exposed to air and grows easily). The crystals growing at the bottom of the pot are short on the vertical axis, but their basic shape is cubic. Also grown with FeCl solution
Iron(III) chloride is not a toxic compound, but it can irritate the skin on contact. Do not taste, technical grade chloride may contain more toxic impurities. It is a strong corrosive substance that readily absorbs copper, iron and many other metals. Do not put in metal containers, do not use glass or plastic. Also, be careful because iron (III) chloride can cause permanent stains on clothes and tables.
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Wash the crystals with a clean saturated salt solution and wipe thoroughly to make sure they are safe to wipe.
I accidentally discovered the effects of ferric chloride after forgetting to open a vial of the solution for several weeks. When I looked at it again, the clear salt crystals were bigger and cleaner than I thought. There may be other compounds that act as growth stabilizers, what are they? My intuition suggests that other metal chlorides and glycerin are good candidates. Yes No. Growing large, transparent salt crystals is extremely difficult, but anyone can grow beautiful clusters at home.
First, prepare half a cup of salt (about 150 grams). Be sure to use regular table salt, not iodized salt, as it can damage crystal growth.
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Then pour 400 ml of water into a saucepan and heat it up. When the water is almost boiling, turn off the heat and add salt. The solution is then stirred rapidly for a few minutes to dissolve the salt.
After 5 minutes, most of the salt will have dissolved. A little bit below is okay. Let the solution cool to room temperature. After that, pour the concentrated salt solution into a clear glass without adding any undissolved salt.
Crystal seeds are small crystals suspended in a saturated salt solution. We can obtain seed crystals using one of two methods.
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Look inside your container. Is there salt that is hard and doesn’t break when held? Ideally, they should be 0.5 to 1 cm long.
If your salt shaker is fine and you can’t find the pieces, that’s okay. Remember that cup of saturated salt you just prepared? Now leave it in the sun for a day.
After a few days, a layer of tiny salt crystals will form at the bottom of the bowl. Now, pour the salt water into another beaker, leaving the salt crystals/crust at the bottom of the first beaker.
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Cut the crust into small pieces with your fingers. Choose a piece that looks good and is about 1 cm long. This will be your seed crystal.
Connect the other end of the cable with a stick/pencil. Suspended seed crystals are then dropped into a beaker containing a salt solution. Leave the cup in a cool, dry, undisturbed place. A shed, closet or cellar would be great.
The solution is slowly evaporated, and the water-soluble salt adheres to the seed crystal, enlarging the surface of the crystal.
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This process takes a long time, so you will have to wait a month or more for large crystals.
Crystal agglomerates will enlarge after entering the solution. You can remove the solution when you decide it’s big enough or when the water level starts to drop.
After 6 months I decided to stop the growing process. How long it takes to grow is up to you.
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Place the salt crystals on the paper and let them dry. Then it is dried on a flat surface after most of the brine has been absorbed.
Drying the crystals is important because if this step is not done properly, the salt solution on the surface of the crystal will evaporate and a thin crust will form on the surface of the beautiful crystal.
Crystals made with some chemicals can turn to powder over time, but salt crystals don’t have that problem. Keep away from water to avoid dissolution.
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If you’re an experienced crystal grower and you’re up for a challenge, here’s how to grow transparent salt cubes!
I am a student and would like to grow crystals chemically while sharing what I have learned so far. Other interests include mathematics, nature and Harry Potter.
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Storage or technical access is required to create user profiles to post advertisements or to track users across a website or websites for similar marketing purposes. These fun experiments are a great way to get kids interested in science. Within a few hours, you can see the crystals starting to grow.
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To fill a small container, you will need about 250 ml of water and 250 ml of salt – take equal parts to prepare a saturated solution.
Heat water in a saucepan on the stove or in the microwave until it is almost boiling. Add salt and stir until dissolved. You can warm it up to check if it has dissolved.
Let the brine cool briefly and then pour the liquid into a clean container using a measuring cup. As I said, you may get a layer of undissolved salt on the bottom of the pan, but don’t worry.
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Then connect the cable to the metal washer and measure the length so that it hangs about 3 cm from the bottom.
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