Crystal growing lab

                                                     

                                                           Crystals and how to grow them 

This week, we learned how to grow crystals. Considering how we were learning about minerals, and how each mineral has a different crystal shape. By doing this activity, we could visually see the crystal formation. Crystals form indifferent shapes, and sizes in which we can categorize them.

here are some examples of crystals in different categories based on their crystal shape:

ISOMETRIC: salt, pyrite, garnet, galena, fluorite, copper, silver, gold

HEXAGONAL: quartz, calcite, tourmaline, graphite, beryl, apatite, corundum

TETRAGONAL: zircon, rutile, wulfenite, chalcopyrite

ORTHORHOMBIC: sulfur, topaz, olivine, barite, stibnite, epsomite, aragonite

MONOCLINIC: orthoclase, mica, gypsum, malachite, azurite

TRICLINIC: albite, rhodonite

What you need for this activity:

salt, water, bluing solution, ammonia (optional), cardboard, coal, etc. (anything you want to make your structure out of)

Over whatever material you choose (I have an example of Charcoal pictured at the top of this blog), pour 2 tbsp of water, 2 tbsp of salt, and 2 tbsp of bluing, and 2 tbsp of ammonia. Then mix the solution with 2 tbsp of salt. You want the salt to dissolve in the solution. After the structure has all of the solutions on it, you then wait a few days and observe the changes. In the end, you should get a structure covered in white-looking crystals!

Overall, I enjoyed this activity and would definitely do this with my class because it shows how crystal structures are formed. Also, my students could use household items such as salt also to build their own crystal structures, and lastly, this could help them practice their observational and recording skills.