In winter, we often admired trees covered with frost and carefully examined snowflakes during snowfalls. And in one of the lessons about the surrounding world, I learned that both frost and snowflakes are crystals that are formed from water vapor. I wondered, what else could such beautiful crystals be formed from?

Growing crystals is a very interesting process, but it can be quite lengthy. It is useful to know what processes control its growth; why different substances form crystals of different shapes, and some do not form them at all; what needs to be done to make them big and beautiful.

If crystallization proceeds very slowly, one large crystal is obtained (or a single crystal, for example, when growing artificial stones), if quickly - then many small ones (or polycrystalline, for example metals).

Crystals(from the Greek κρύσταλλος, originally - ice, later - rock crystal, crystal) - solids in which atoms are arranged regularly, forming a three-dimensional periodic spatial arrangement - a crystal lattice.

There are ideal and real crystals. An ideal crystal is, in fact, a mathematical object that has complete, inherent symmetry, idealized smooth smooth edges. The largest crystals were discovered in the Cave of Crystals in the Nike mine complex, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. Some of the gypsum crystals found there reach 15 meters in length and 1 meter in width.

Crystals can also be grown at home from salt, sugar, soda ash, copper sulfate. It must be remembered that these are chemical reagents, so children can only work with them under adult supervision! Growing crystals is an entertaining process, but it requires a careful and careful approach to your work. Theoretically, the size of the crystal that can be grown at home in this way is unlimited. There are cases when enthusiasts received crystals of such size that they could only be lifted with the help of their comrades.

Purpose of work: learn to grow crystals of table salt and other substances at home.

Job objectives:

Collect information about crystals in the literature,

Select available equipment and raw materials for growing crystals at home,

Get acquainted with safety measures when conducting experiments,

Grow crystals of table salt, copper sulfate, potassium dichromate, cobalt sulfate, chromium (III) sulfate.

The process of growing table salt crystals does not require any special chemicals. Crystals of other salts are grown in a similar way.

1. Olgin O., “Experiments without explosions”, M.; "Chemistry", 1995, 192 p.

2. Zdorik T. B., “The stone that gives birth to metal”, M.; "Enlightenment", 1984, 184 p.

3. Shaskolskaya M. P.; “Crystals”, M.: Nauka, 1985, 208 p.

4. Kantor B.Z.; “The mineral talks about itself,” M.: Nedra, 1985, 138 p.

5. Stepin B.D., Alikberova L.Yu., “Book on chemistry for home reading”, M.: Khimiya, 1994, 400 p.

Manufacturers of modern toys designed for organizing educational children's leisure time often offer ready-made kits for growing crystals at home. But it would be a mistake to think that this activity is a development of our time and an achievement of the modern chemical industry.

The book, based on the materials of which our retro blog is preparing a publication today, was published in 1875 and considered its main goal to be the need to convey to young readers as much useful practical information as possible that would contribute to the development of children's thinking and broadening their horizons.

One of the extensive chapters of this publication was devoted to how to grow a crystal at home, using any (or even all at once) of the ingredients proposed in the book. Having learned to grow crystals, you can use them to create beautiful decorative elements that can become an original Christmas tree decoration or part of a festive interior decor.

General rules for growing crystals

• Before proceeding to the practical part, I would like to warn you: growing crystals does not tolerate fuss: the beauty of their form directly depends on the conditions in which the solution is located. The vessel where crystal growth occurs must be removed to a place where no one will disturb it and cannot accidentally touch, push, or overturn it. Any careless movement can lead to the crystal not being as large, even and beautiful as we would like.
• To obtain large crystals, the amount of water must be increased: the larger the crystal, the more water must be taken to dissolve the original ingredient. Most components are sensitive to the quality of water and can react with impurities included in its composition, so it is advisable to take filtered or distilled water.
• The less the solution is heated, the better for the crystals, because in heated and settled water, larger and more even formations are obtained. As soon as crystals appear at the bottom of the vessel, you should select and remove the smallest ones, leaving only the largest ones. Every morning the remaining crystals are very carefully turned over to the other side with a thin stick - this way the growth of layers is uniform.

Alum crystals

If you use only chromium-potassium alum in your work, the crystal may turn out to be dark purple or almost black. Pale pink or lilac-tinged multifaceted crystals are obtained using ferroammonium alum.

Multi-colored crystals can also be obtained using certain coloring substances: for example, yellow gives a saturated solution of turmeric; red color - sandalwood decoction; blue - copper sulfate. You can also use modern food coloring.

Preparation of the solution

Alum is ground to a powder and dissolved in hot water. The amount of initial ingredients is determined by eye: enough alum is poured into water to form a supersaturated solution, i.e. they stopped dissolving. If the resulting solution seems cloudy, then filter it through filter paper (you can use a modern coffee filter).

The solution is cooled and left at rest for a day: during this time, most of the alum will settle to the bottom of the vessel in the form of crystals. These crystals can also be used to decorate various objects: if you make a crown out of wire, wrap all its elements wool thread and immerse it in alum solution, after a day it will be covered with crystals, like precious stones.

Growing crystals from salt

Important point: for preparing a solution in modern conditions You should pay attention to the fact that table salt does not contain an anti-caking component, which prevents the formation of beautiful crystals.

The vessel is placed in a warm place for several hours until approximately a third of the prepared solution has evaporated, after which the container is moved to a cooler place. Armed with patience, you will soon find transparent salt cubes at the bottom of the vessel. If this solution is placed outside a window in winter at a temperature of about -10 degrees, then crystals will form in the form of hexagonal plates.

Using this solution, you can prepare shaped Christmas tree decorations by making the frame of the future toy from wire and wrapping it with woolen thread. A saturated saline solution is poured into several vessels, different dyes are added to each of them, and wire blanks suspended on a stick are immersed.

You can also make original toys by cutting out blanks from felt - due to its texture, felt absorbs salt solution well and the figure is completely covered with small crystals.

Soda crystals

Soda is dissolved in hot water until a saturated solution is obtained (the soda stops dissolving), after which the solution is filtered and the container is put in a warm place. After some time, crystals begin to appear on the bottom and walls of the vessel. This moment is the most successful for placing an object in a container, the contours of which will gradually become overgrown with crystals.

It should be remembered that, unlike crystals obtained from salt and alum, soda is highly susceptible to moisture in the air, so these crystals can be easily destroyed. To protect them from deformation, soda crystals are stored in a tightly closed container.

Saltpeter crystals

The shape of the crystals will depend on the type of nitrate taken: these can be elongated cylinders or “sticks”, plates fused together, or pointed needles.

Pour about 100 g of any type of saltpeter into a small container and fill it with 50 ml of water. This mixture is placed on the fire and heated for some time, bringing to a boil. The finished solution is filtered through gauze or filter paper and cooled.

As the solution cools, small bright white crystals will precipitate. If you want to get larger crystals, you need to take about 450 ml of water for the same amount of saltpeter - after cooling, you will get elongated hexagonal crystals.

If you mix powdered saltpeter with table salt, dissolve these substances in water, boil and cool, you can end up with two types of crystals at once.

Growing crystals from vitriol

Both vessels are placed in a water bath and heated, stirring, until the vitriol is completely dissolved. During the cooling process, green crystals are obtained from iron sulfate, and blue crystals from copper sulfate. The green crystal is tied with a thread and carefully immersed in a solution of copper sulfate. After some time, this crystal will be covered with a blue layer; after this, it is removed from the vessel and immersed in a solution of iron sulfate, which will give the crystal a layer of green color.

In this way, the procedure of immersion in different vessels is repeated until a large crystal is formed, consisting of beautiful green and blue layers.

Crystals are substances whose atoms or molecules are arranged in an orderly manner. Such formations have a symmetrical structure in the form of polyhedra. Crystals can have from four to several hundred facets; they vary greatly in size, but they always amaze with their “correct” beauty.

In nature, such formations are common, but at home you can grow crystals yourself; for this you will not need many available tools. But the result will be simply stunning and quite fast. In just a few days you will be able to admire your own salt crystal of an unusual, bizarre shape.

Salt crystal

To understand how to grow a crystal from salt at home, you don’t need special skills or knowledge, just attentiveness and desire, of course. So, you will need:

Glass vessel.

Wooden stick, pencil or similar object.

If you don't have salt on hand, there is a simple alternative way - just use sugar instead of salt. In fact, this process is absolutely identical to how to grow a crystal from salt at home. So you can choose the main material according to your taste.

Pour water into the container. It works best, but you can use regular tap water.

Add a small amount of salt and stir. Repeat this procedure until the salt stops dissolving. You will understand this by the precipitation.

Pour the salt solution into glass jar or a glass so that there is no sediment left.

Select a large salt crystal and place it at the bottom of the jar. For best results, instead attach the crystal to a string and hang it from a pencil so that the string does not touch the sides of the glass container.

Place the jar in a room with normal humidity (the jar should not be placed in the bathroom or kitchen) and wait. Due to the fact that the selected container is glass, you can monitor the process and wait for the desired result.

A way to grow a crystal from copper sulfate

For those who want something more interesting, there is the opportunity to grow a beautiful structure of rich of blue color. To do this, we will tell you how to grow a crystal from copper sulfate. It should be noted that this substance is copper sulfate or copper salt, but the process of growing a crystal is still different from how to grow a crystal from salt at home. The thing is that copper sulfate is quite dangerous chemical element, which means it must be handled with care. You will need:

Copper sulfate.

Heat-resistant flask for chemical experiments or glass jar.

A piece of copper wire.

Sandpaper.

Ballpoint pen refill.

Latex gloves.

Get started by making sure the copper sulfate does not come into contact with small children or pets. Prepare your materials and begin your experiment:

Wear gloves before starting work.

If you use pure copper sulfate from a reagent store, distilled water will do; for household copper salt, use . Heat the water to 60-70 degrees Celsius.

Add copper sulfate a little at a time until a precipitate forms.

Pour the water into another container to remove sediment from the solution.

Using sandpaper, clean the copper wire, give it the required form and tie to a thread.

By the way, if you do not have copper wire, you can grow a crystal from copper sulfate at home using ordinary thread.

Using a ballpoint pen, hang the seed so that the wire does not touch the wall of the vessel.

Now leave it for a few days and observe the result.

After your crystal has acquired the required shape, dry it and coat it with colorless varnish so that over time the copper sulfate does not erode and the crystal does not disintegrate.

Now you know how to grow a crystal from salt at home, and you can experiment. Use different shapes seeds to create interesting crafts. You can add a little coloring to the water and salt (both regular food coloring and regular gouache paints will do). Use all your imagination, and then ordinary crystals from improvised means can become designer jewelry!

If you like experiments or want to spend time interesting and useful with your child, we suggest interesting idea, on growing crystals at home. For an organic entry into the world of entertaining science, we have chosen a very interesting and safe topic. In our article you will find step by step instructions how to grow a crystal from salt, with step by step photos and video.

Necessary materials:

Note: young and old experimenters should not try to grow “colored salt crystals” using food and design paints such as gouache or watercolor. The solution for growing crystals should be as pure as possible. That is why distilled water is considered the optimal liquid for such an experiment, as it is free from various salts and impurities.

How to grow a crystal at home - step by step instructions

Important: when storing the resulting crystals, it should be taken into account that moisture evaporates in the air and the crystals are destroyed. To fix the results, the surface must be treated with varnish. According to the results of observations, the next day the changes in the two vessels are striking. In the working vessel with the filtered solution, the seed crystal did not change in size. In the control vessel, salt flakes fell out and salt sediment crystallized.

Our salt crystal is ready!

Please note: in order to speed up the process, the working solution must be changed periodically. That is, prepare a saturated saline solution again and place the growing crystals there.

When working with crystals for a long time, it may become necessary to grow certain forms. There are also special techniques and rules for this. You can correct growth by removing unsightly growths with a knife, scraping off the excess. The formation of edges can be prevented by treating the crystal planes with Vaseline. If further growth is necessary, remove Vaseline with acetone.

Crystals are a beautiful and unique natural phenomenon that has fascinated humanity for many centuries. However, thanks to science and research by scientists, today you can make them yourself.

Growing crystals is an interesting and exciting activity not only for children, but also for adults

If you tell your child about amazing world crystals, then he will undoubtedly ask you: “How to make a crystal at home?”

Getting such a miracle of nature will be interesting not only for kids, but also for those who have never conducted such experiments at school. Therefore, you can not only catch up, but also instill in your child a love of science.

It is worth noting that any age of the child is suitable for this experiment. The only task for the parent will be a correct and accessible explanation of the formation of crystals. For this fascinating procedure, you can buy a ready-made kit or grow a crystal from scrap materials.

What is needed to grow crystals?

Before making a crystal at home, prepare the following:

It is also worth being patient, as growing crystals requires a lot of time and effort.

Growing crystals from table salt

Many people ask the question: “How to make a crystal from salt?” Indeed, it can be found in everyone's kitchen. So why spend money on a more “refined” material when you can just use salt!

As a rule, beginners begin to grow crystals from this material. To do this, you need to prepare a saline solution. Pour some heated water into a glass container (you can take a jar or glass). Add salt until it stops dissolving, always stirring the solution. To completely dissolve the salt, it is necessary to maintain a high temperature of the water in the glass for as long as possible. Therefore, it can be placed in a warm place or placed in a pan with warm water. By the way, if you are interested in how to make a crystal from sugar, then follow the same technique, replacing the salt with granulated sugar.

So, the concentrated solution is ready. Now you need to hang a thread with a crystal of the same salt attached to its end on a jumper (for example, a pencil). It is this that will become the foundation for the birth of our future crystals, which will form in 5-7 days.

So we figured out how to make a crystal at home from salt.

Growing crystals from vitriol

We have already said that such a natural miracle can be obtained not only from salt. Let's look at how to make a crystal from vitriol.

We would like to warn you right away that vitriol is harmful. Chemical substance. Therefore, you need to work with it very carefully. As a rule, this is done with gloves. Under no circumstances should this product come into contact with your eyes!

The methods for growing crystals from this raw material are very similar to the previous ones. Since vitriol is sulfur-copper salt, instead of table (edible) salt we add this chemical substance to warm water. Everything else is done in the same way as described above.

The only difference is the color. Crystals from copper sulfate will be dark blue, and from table salt - white.

Crystal figures

Were you interested in learning how to make a crystal at home? Would you like us to tell you how to make crystal figurines?

There are two such methods. The first involves preliminary growing crystals of different colors (for example, from vitriol and salt) and then fastening them with glue to obtain one or another shape. It could be a snowman, a cat, and so on. That is, it all depends on your imagination.

And the second method involves making a blank before making a crystal from salt (or from another similar substance). The workpiece is made of wire. The shapes can be different: these are stars, hearts, circles, squares, treble clefs, that is, whatever your imagination allows you to create. After you have made the frame, you need to wrap it with ordinary threads and dip it in a saline solution, then dry it. After drying, small crystals form on the threads. They will be the basis for growing the main crystals. In 5-7 days you will have a beautiful crystallized figure.