How to grow a crystal at home from salt. Growing ruby crystals and other artificial stones at home

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 get unusual craft.

At the same time, such a process is completely safe and does not require any deep knowledge of chemistry or any reagents, any person in the house has all the objects and substances.

How to grow salt crystals at home: material and equipment

1. The first and most basic ingredient is salt.. For the success of the crystal growth process, it is important that it be as pure as possible. Therefore, it is worth giving preference to sea salt, because. there is too much rubbish in the kitchen. It is also not recommended to purchase salt with dyes or other additives.

2. Water, which should also be as free as possible from impurities. If it is not possible to use distilled, then it is worth at least pre-filtering it.

3. Non-metal crystal growth container. Its size can be limited only by the desired crystal size. Important requirements - the container material 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 growth for 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 the future large crystal. A suitable large piece of salt is easy to find in an almost empty salt shaker. Small particles from it fall out during use, while large ones do not crawl through the holes and remain inside. It is necessary to choose the largest and having a shape as close as possible to a parallelepiped.

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

6. Filter paper or gauze.

7. Paper napkins or toilet paper .

8. Lacquer to cover the finished crystal.

9. Patience. It is not enough to know how to grow crystals from salt at home, you must also be able to wait. A more or less decent-sized crystal 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 the household of absolutely any person.

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

The technology for obtaining a crystal from salt is very simple, in addition, the process requires very little human participation, basically it takes only time. capacity with clean water put 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 already be so much salt in it that it will not be able to dissolve further, it is poured into a clean container so that the sediment from the old one does not get into it. You can even further purify the solution from impurities by passing it through filter paper or gauze folded several times.

It is possible to achieve the desired water temperature for heating the solution even in the absence of a thermometer. To do this, mix freshly boiled boiling water and water at room temperature in a ratio of approximately 1 to 2.

For a 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 a small twig or curved wire is hung on a thread.

Knowing how to grow salt crystals at home, you can not limit your imagination to objects that are simple in shape. To get not just a crystal, but really original craft, as a base, you can put a wire bent in the form of a star, a snowflake, or another similar simple shape into the solution. In principle, you can use absolutely any object that is not subject to oxidation from salts.

Next, the container is covered with a lid, a napkin, a sheet of paper, and in general anything, just to protect the solution from dust and foreign objects. A container with a growing crystal should be stored in a dark, cool place without drafts. Strong mechanical influences on it should not be allowed - too frequent movements, shaking, etc., as well as regular and significant changes in temperature or humidity, i.e. for example, it is definitely not worth placing a crystal in the bathroom, as well as near the stove in the kitchen or at heating appliances.

Naturally, the more the crystal grows, the less salt remains in the surrounding water. Therefore, to speed up the process about 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, it can be transferred to a larger one, trying not to drop or break it, because. he is very fragile.

The crystal taken out of the solution is dried from the remnants of water, gently blotting soft cloth or plain paper towel. This must be done very carefully, because the crystal is not very strong. For safety, the crystal is covered with household or manicure colorless varnish. If this is not done, then the life of this beautiful object will be short-lived. In dry air, the remaining water will quickly evaporate, and it will crumble into powder, and with excess humidity, on the contrary, it will absorb excess liquid and will spread into a shapeless bunch of individual small crystals or even into gruel.

Salt will make crystals white color.

If you want other shades, then you can:

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

Coat the finished crystal not with a transparent, but with a colored coating;

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

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

If the crystal grows slightly in the wrong shape, then the extra areas can be carefully scraped off with a knife or nail file, while 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 petroleum jelly or another thick fatty substance. If it needs to be removed, this can be done with acetone or alcohol.

For the crystal to split, as if branching into different sides, a small amount of glycerin is added to the solution.

Precautionary measures

Table salt is a substance absolutely harmless to humans, because we eat it every day without any health consequences. Therefore, there is no need to observe any safety precautions when growing a salt crystal.

However, so that foreign objects do not get into the solution, you should at least collect your hair, but it is better to cover it with a scarf, and wash your hands with soap and water or even wear rubber gloves. And if there are scratches or wounds on the hands, it is simply necessary to wear gloves, otherwise it will be strong saline solution will sting a lot. Nothing fatal or harmful, but not pleasant. Similarly, it is better to protect hands if salt with dyes is used, and there is a possibility of an allergy to these dyes.

But when working with copper sulphate and other more aggressive salts, it is imperative to take precautions, trying not to inhale the solution, to prevent it from getting on the skin, and also to be in a well-ventilated area and not allow small children or pets to grow crystals . In no case should the containers used for this chemical experiment be used later for receiving or storing food, medicines, personal hygiene items, cosmetics, in general, everything that will subsequently come into direct contact with the human body.

How to grow salt crystals at home: reasons for failure

Why did a piece of salt, taken as a base, dissolve instead of forming a crystal around itself? This means that the salt solution was initially not sufficiently saturated. When preparing it, salt should be added little by little until it no longer dissolves, but precipitates. The solubility charts of these salts in water easily found on the Internet will help you choose the proportions of food and other salts for preparing a solution. certain temperature.

If instead of one, several small crystals suddenly grew in the container, then this indicates foreign impurities in the solution. This can be either insufficiently well-filtered water, or rubbish in salt, or a poorly washed container where the solution was poured.

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

Of course, even knowing how to grow salt crystals at home and following all the recommendations, you can get not quite 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 fill your hand, select the optimal proportions of the components and conditions for crystal growth.

An unusual experiment on growing crystals from salt can be done with children. This process is completely safe, as only salt and water is used and no additional reagents are required. Making such a craft with your own hands is quite simple, but you need to consider a few rules.

1 How to grow a crystal from salt - preparing the tool and material

Before you start making crafts, prepare necessary tools and determine the location for the container. The maturation process of the product will take some time, while the dishes cannot be moved and tilted.

The main component for the formation of a crystal is salt. To get a smooth and transparent surface on the craft, use sea salt. It has no impurities and small debris like salt.
Crystal formation will occur in water. It should also be well cleaned of impurities. It is best to pour distilled water or boil the liquid and filter.
The utensils for the experiment should not be metal. Since it can oxidize due to the action of saline. The volume of the growing dish does not matter and is only limited by the size of the desired crystal.
Keep the container free of debris and debris. They will prevent the growth of salt on the main crystal. Therefore, before the experiment, the dishes should be thoroughly washed and dried.
As a base, you can use a thread, fluffy wire, dried twigs or a large piece of salt.
In addition, you will need: a wooden spoon for stirring, a piece of gauze or a bandage, paper towels, colorless nail polish, a saucepan and a pencil.

2 How to grow a salt crystal with many facets

The initial stage of the experiment involves boiling the liquid. Therefore, help the children warm the liquid so that they do not burn themselves.

Prepare 120 ml. purified or distilled water. Pour it into a saucepan, put on the stove and bring to a boil.

Decide on the type of salt to form the crystal. So with the help of ordinary table salt, the craft is formed within a few days, sea salt forms a crystal in 1-2 days, and with iodized salt you will have to wait a very long time for the growth of the product.

Prepare a saturated salt solution. You can understand its readiness by grains that could not dissolve in water. To do this, add salt to warm water and stir the solution thoroughly. First, add half a glass of salt. If the water is clear without grains, then add another quarter cup.

Pour the solution into a dry and clean container. Make sure that the sediment stays in the pot, otherwise it will fall to the bottom of the jar, and will reduce the growth of the main crystal.

On this stage you can add a dye to change the color of the crystal. But don't add too much, as large volumes the tool will give the craft fragility.

Prepare the thread for the warp. It is desirable that it be thick with a rough surface. Tie it to a pencil or a long skewer. Their size should be larger diameter containers for crystal growth and with edges for stability.

Measure the desired length of thread and cut it. Do not let it touch the bottom of the container.

Position the pencil on top of the container. Make sure that the thread does not stick to the walls of the jar.

Place the brine container on a flat surface. If you want to grow a crystal with large branches, then keep the liquid with the thread in a warm place. To form a crystal with smooth surfaces, put the container in the cold.

Now you just have to watch the growth of the crystal.

3 How to grow one big crystal from salt

To get a large crystal with smooth edges after the experiment, it is necessary to use a slightly different technology.

Prepare a concentrated salt solution as in the previous paragraph. Pour it into a container. But for this method growing diy choose a flat and wide container. So a large crystal will not be able to connect with the rest, smaller parts.

Leave the container with the solution for 2 days for the formation of small crystals. Then pour out the water and choose the most suitable piece for growing.

Tie a small crystal to the fishing line. In this case, it is necessary to use a smooth thread or thin wire (fishing line) so that salt grains cannot be fixed on it.

Prepare a saturated salt solution again. But this time, do not bring the water to a boil, but only warm it to room temperature.

Lower the crystal on the fishing line into the prepared container and pour the saline solution in a thin stream. Secure the fishing line to the surface of the container with a pencil. In this case, the crystal should be located in the center of the container.

Growing a crystal in this way will take much longer than the previous option. Therefore, every two weeks, prepare a new salt solution and be sure to filter it before pouring it into the container.
When the crystals have grown to the desired size, remove them from the liquid, dry them and be sure to cover them with a thick layer of colorless nail polish. It will not allow water to evaporate, which will make the craft more durable for a long period.

It is very easy and safe to conduct an experiment on growing a crystal from salt at home. But to get the desired effect, strictly follow the rules specified in the article and do not forget about finishing products.

Do you like to conduct scientific experiments and want to involve your children in this? Most The best way for this - try to grow a crystal together from regular salt, which everyone in the house probably has.

Safety regulations

Experience is based on chemical reaction saturated salt solution. Both cooking and sea are used almost every day in everyday life, it will not harm you. But still try to work with gloves and a scarf. This will prevent the ingress of foreign objects into the liquid - dust, hair.

If you have unhealed wounds or burrs on your hands, you need to be very careful, as the solution can corrode the skin in damaged areas and cause acute pain.

In order to grow such a crystal at home, you do not need any laboratory equipment. Everything you need is at your fingertips.

Regular salt crystals should have even, large faces

Do not add natural or artificial colors. This makes no sense: the salt crystal will still grow colorless.

How to grow a crystal

So, water and salt will act as reagents in the experiment, and the equipment will be:

Note! Jars or glasses must be absolutely clean. Any mote on them inner surface can become the basis for the growth of additional crystals that interfere with the main one.

Solution preparation

The germ of a crystal of sea or table salt

Prepare the embryos on which the crystals will grow. They should be large so that you can easily attach them to a thread.

The easiest way to make a selection is as follows: pour salt into the salt shaker and shake until all the small crystals fall out. Those that did not go through the holes of the salt shaker and remained inside are great for our purpose. Choose the largest of them, with a shape close to a rectangle, with a minimum of deviations.

Try to choose the largest and evenest crystals as the embryo of the future crystal

Fix the selected embryo on a thread, and, in turn, wind it on a stick or pencil so that over time it will be easy to adjust the immersion depth.

Height

The main and longest phase of the experiment begins. In a saturated solution poured into a second jar, immerse the embryos, wrap the container with something warm so that the liquid cools more slowly.

If the solution was sufficiently saturated and clean, the embryos will increase slightly in a day. Otherwise, they will dissolve.

Now cover the top of the jar with paper to avoid dirt and dust, and leave for 3-4 days. Water will gradually evaporate, and salt will precipitate, growing on the embryo and ensuring the growth of crystals.

It is at this stage that mistakes made in the preparation process may appear. For example, you could incorrectly fasten a loop of thread on a crystal, and it will simply grow into the middle. To avoid this, fasten the embryo not in a knot, but in a thread loop, both ends of which are brought out. After the growth process is over, pull the ends of the loop one by one to loosen the clamp, and remove the thread.

You can set any shape to the crystal during the growth period

If you want to grow a crystal quickly, take it out of the container after a few days. Over time, it should already increase in size. Prepare a new saturated salt solution and lower the crystal there again. Some experts advise just topping up required amount salt in a jar and mix thoroughly.

How to make a crystal at home (video)

As you can see, growing a crystal is not that difficult. The main thing is to adhere to the technology and follow the recommendations. Although this process is not a quick one, in the end you will get beautiful souvenirs that can be used as decoration or a gift. Tell us in the comments about your experience and what difficulties you faced. Good luck!

Growing crystals at home is a very long, laborious and painstaking process, but it is very exciting and definitely worth the time spent. This experience is very popular with children, and most of the methods below are completely safe. So, consider the main ways to grow crystals at home.

How to grow a crystal from sugar at home

It is best to start your experiments on growing crystals at home with the most interesting and enjoyable ones. The easiest way to grow a crystal is from sugar, and if you do this experiment with children, they will be able to taste the fruits of their creativity at the end of the process.

In order to grow a crystal from sugar, we will need:

2 glasses of water;
5 glasses of granulated sugar;
wooden skewers;
paper;
small saucepan;
several clear glasses.

The process of making a crystal begins with the manufacture of sugar syrup. To do this, take 1/4 cup of water and two tablespoons of sugar. Mix, bring on fire until syrup is obtained. Dip a wooden skewer into the syrup and sprinkle with a little sugar. The more evenly the skewer is sprinkled, the more ideal and beautiful the crystal will come out. In a similar way, we make the required number of blanks and leave them to dry completely, for example, overnight.

Some time has passed, our skewers have dried out and now we can move on to the next part of the experience. Pour 2 cups of water into a saucepan and pour 2.5 cups of sugar. On low heat, stirring constantly, turn our mixture into a sugar syrup. Stirring must be carried out carefully, until the sugar is completely dissolved! Add the remaining 2.5 cups of sugar and also, until completely dissolved, cook the syrup. After that, leave the syrup to cool slightly, this will take approximately 15-20 minutes. This time we continue to prepare blanks from skewers, the basis for our future crystal. We cut paper circles a little larger than the diameter of our glasses and pierce the resulting circles with chopsticks. The main thing is that the paper is firmly fixed on the skewer. The paper will act as the holder and lid for the glass.

Pour the cooled, but still hot syrup into glasses. At this stage, a little food coloring can be added to the syrup, then the crystal will eventually turn out to be colored. We lower our blank (a stick with a circle of paper) into the glass and leave it alone until the crystal ripens. It is important not to touch the walls and bottom! Well, we do the same with all the remaining blanks.

It will take about a week to grow a crystal. This is very interesting and fascinating process which is very popular with children. Every day the crystal grows and takes on its individual shape. Some crystals grow faster, some slower, but the bulk matures in exactly 7 days. The resulting sugar crystal is very good to use with the whole family at a home tea party or just nibble in moments of blues! So, entertaining chemistry is not only interesting, but also tasty;).

How to grow a crystal from salt at home

Growing a crystal from salt at home is a fairly simple process, but it requires patience and care. However, the result of the experiment exceeds all expectations. We will need:

pure water;
pot;
2 glass jars;
salt;
strong thread.

We heat water in a saucepan, we heat it very much, and do not bring it to a boil, the experiment will not work in boiling water. After heating the water, we gradually begin to pour salt into it, stirring constantly until the portion of salt is completely dissolved. Then add more salt, stir until dissolved. And so on until the salt ceases to dissolve. Pour the resulting saturated saline solution into a jar and let it stand well for a day. The next day we will see a lot of small crystals of settled salt in the jar. We choose the most beautiful and largest of them, carefully take it out and tie it to a thread. Carefully pour the solution into an empty jar, making sure that the settled crystals do not fall into a new vessel. Then we lower the crystal on a thread into a filtered saline solution and stock up on patience. After 2-3 days you will notice an increase in the crystal, this growth will continue for some time until the end of growth. After you notice that the crystal has stopped growing, you can either end the experiment if you are satisfied with the result, or prepare another saturated saline solution, as we did above, and lower our crystal there. By the way, if you often change the salt solution, then the growth of the crystal will be faster.

It is very important not to cool the solution on purpose and not to shake it, in this case crystals of an imperfect shape are obtained. Also, do not add any dyes, the crystal will not be colored, and the experiment will be ruined.

How to grow a crystal from copper sulfate at home

Growing crystals from blue vitriol at home, this is the next level of complexity, in which it is required to comply with safety requirements and children can only perform it under adult supervision.

For the experiment we need:

water, preferably distilled;
glass jar;
copper salt (copper sulfate or copper sulfate, which can be bought at a gardening store).

Before buying, be sure to consider the substance, it should be a bright blue homogeneous powder. In the presence of lumps and green blotches, it is better to refuse the purchase. It will go to summer residents on the farm, but we, novice chemists, will not.

So, the correct vitriol is purchased. Pour about 100 grams of powder into glass jar and pour a little hot water, stirring constantly. We must get a saturated solution in which the copper salt can no longer dissolve. Filter the solution and put it in the refrigerator. The next day at the bottom we will find many crystals. We select a couple of the largest and most beautiful and place them in a container with a filtered solution. Before that, we act with crystals in the same way as in the previous experiment with table salt, namely, we fix it on a thread and lower it into a jar. We cover the vessel with thin paper and stock up on patience. Growing a crystal from copper sulfate takes several weeks. After the formation of the crystal is completed, it must be carefully removed, rinsed with cold running water and coated with colorless nail polish.

Ordinary table salt can be turned into an interesting art object, the process of creating which will be exciting for children and adults. Not to be missed unique opportunity, without leaving home, observe one of the natural phenomena - the formation of crystals.

Required fixtures and materials

We carefully prepare everything you need to grow a crystal from salt. Everyone in the house will always have everything you need for this work. It has been noticed that a larger crystal grows in a larger capacity, but in this case a lot of salt will be needed:

We take coarse and clean salt. Impurities in it are not permissible, as they will prevent the formation of crystals of the correct shape. You can use sea salt, despite the complex chemical composition.
It is better to use filtered or distilled water.
2 containers: made of glass to observe the process and to heat water on fire.
Stick (pencil, ruler, etc.).
Thread or thin copper wire.
Funnel.
Filter paper (gauze, cotton wool) is used to filter the solution.
Napkins.

Growing preparation

The higher the temperature, the more the substance dissolves in water. A seed is added to the resulting supersaturated solution, and upon cooling, the molecules adhere to it. Growth begins, depending on how much of the substance dissolved at high temperature and how much “precipitated” when it was lowered, for example: 2 g of sodium chloride compared to 50 g of copper sulfate.

Unlike other substances, the solubility of table salt is very high; when cooled, the sticking of the substance is minimal, but over time, more and more molecules are added and salt objects increase in size.

The instruction on how to make crystals from salt is quite simple and does not present any difficulty. We bring the water to 80-90 oC, remove from the stove. Gradually add salt (38 g per 100 g of water), constantly stirring, until it begins to dissolve more.

It turns out a supersaturated solution, the salt from which will easily crystallize when it is cooled. Lowering the temperature slowly gives the best result.

Place the filter paper in the funnel and pour the contents into glass container after 30-60 minutes. As a result, we remove all small crystals that can interfere with the main process, and get rid of impurities.

We make a notch on a stick for a more stable fixation. We tie one end of the thread (wire) to the notch. At the other end, we tie a knot or hang any small object on which the molecules will build up.

We lower the thread into the middle of the container. Can be made from wire complex shapes, which will be overgrown with crystals. In the photo of salt crystals you can see a variety various forms depending on the matrix seed.

crystallization process

We cover the top of the jar with a napkin: no foreign impurities should get into the water solution. We place it on permanent place without temperature fluctuations and try not to move or shake. Maintaining the same level in the liquid, periodically carefully add a saturated solution of sodium chloride.

Visible shifts are soon observed and after a month a small polycrystal can be seen. The longer it is in solution, the larger it becomes.

At the air-water interface, crystallization occurs more intensively. Variations in the movement of such a seed makes it possible to obtain salt "products" fairly quickly.

And how to make a single crystal from salt? Is it possible to? Experts say that a crystal close to the natural rectangular shape can be obtained quite simply.

In a package of table salt, we select a large crystal and put it on the bottom of the prepared saline solution. Sea salt, as a larger one, is even more suitable for these purposes. To speed up the process, it is transferred to a new saturated solution after a few days. They follow the shape and periodically scrape off excess sticking, trying to keep the shape.

You can see a single crystal much faster: individual crumb crystals appear at the border of air and water in a jar. Transparent, regular shape, they are clearly visible under a magnifying glass.

Coloring and storage

The resulting crystals are dried and coated with a colorless varnish for better preservation. Paint them with different color varnishes.

They will look aesthetically pleasing on a special podium, while being protected from destruction. No dyes are added to the saline solution, as they can only interfere with crystal formation.

The question is often asked: "Is it possible to get a crystal from salt in 1 day?". We hope that the above has already been answered. However, experiment, try, but remember how much time nature spends on growing its miracle!

Photo of salt crystals

Hello brain chemists! Growing crystals on objects to give them strange shapes or just to scientific experiment is simple and fun! In this project, I will grow crystals on objects that are printed on a 3D printer.

This process is quite simple and preparatory work no more than 1 hour of your time is required. The crystals themselves take several days to grow.

Step 1: Required Components

To grow salt crystals you will need:

1. SALT!
Crystals can be grown from almost any salt, however, to obtain best results I suggest using copper sulfate or magnesium sulfate (epsom salt). You can also experiment with sodium chloride (common salt), sea salt, tin salt, etc. Wear nitrile gloves when using copper sulfate.
For this project, I chose Epsom salt.
2. Distilled water.
3. transparent container 5 cm larger than the object on which the crystals will be grown.
Transparent food containers provide a visual perception of the crystal growth process, as well as retain heat well and do not break.
4. An object where crystals or twine will be grown.
Feel free to experiment with the lattice design of your 3D object!
5. Device for holding your object in solution: sticks, toothpicks, wires, twine or stand, etc.
6. bowler hat large enough to boil the required amount of water for the brine solution.
7. Spoon for mixing.

Step 2: Prepare the saline solution

Pour water into the pot.
Salt must be added to water in a ratio of 1 to 2.
Boil water.
After boiling, leave the water on low heat.
Add salt gradually and stir until completely dissolved. Continue the process, adding and stirring the salt until it no longer dissolves. At the bottom of the pot you will see crystals. Remove the pot from the fire.
Carefully pour the resulting solution into your container (if using a glass jug or container, put a spoon into it before pouring the saline solution to prevent the container from being damaged).
Place the solution container in comfortable spot for growing salt crystals.

Step 3: Hanging an Object or String in Salt Solution

Growing Salt Crystals:
Place a stick or spoon across the top of your container.
Tie a piece of string to the center of the stick, and dip into the solution 3.8 cm or more from the bottom of the container.
Leave the container in place and watch the crystals grow.

Growing salt crystals on site:
Similarly to the above method, hang or tie your object to a string so that it is immersed in the solution and there is a distance of 5 cm between the object and the container, which is necessary for the growth of salt crystals.

Alternatively, you can hang your object using sticks or wire.

Step 4: Waiting for crystal growth!

Do not touch the container, check crystal growth only visually.

Step 5: Carefully remove the crystals from the solution

Carefully remove the string or object from the solution when the crystals have grown to the desired shape and size. If the crystals have bonded between the container and your object, then take a butter knife and carefully separate the crystals from the edges of the container; try not to damage the shape of the grown crystals.

Step 6: Want more crystals?

Before removing a string or object with crystals from the solution, evaluate the size of the crystals and decide if you want to grow more crystals. For further crystal growth, it is necessary to repeat the whole process by preparing a new brine solution.

When growing additional crystals, it is very important to prepare a new portion of the solution correctly: after boiling and preparing the solution, ALLOW IT TO COOL TO ROOM TEMPERATURE before lowering the string or object into it again.

If the solution is not cooled, then the already grown crystals will melt into hot water and the whole process will have to start all over again.

Step 7: Examples

Here are photos of crystals that I grew in more than 3 solutions. You can see the difference in the size and shape of the crystals.

Step 8: Enjoy Your Crystals!

After growing your crystals to the desired size, carefully remove the string/object. Dry on a towel. ENJOY YOUR RESULTS!

In further experiments, you can try using tap water, colored water and Various types salts, including iodized salt, non-iodized salt, sea salt, or even salt substitutes. Look at the difference in grown crystals using a microscope for this purpose!

Artificial stones have long gained popularity in jewelry. Indeed, for a jeweler, the value of a stone is determined not only by its scarcity in nature. Plays an important role whole line other characteristics:

color;
light refraction;
strength;
weight in carats;
the size and shape of the edges, etc.

The most expensive artificial gemstone Fianit (synonyms: daimonsquay, dzhevalit, zirconium cube, shelby). Its price is low - less than $ 10 per 1 carat (0.2 grams). But it is worth noting that with the increase in carats, the price rises exponentially. For example, a 10 carat diamond costs 100 times more than a 1 carat diamond.

artificial crystals jewelry stones can be grown at home. Most of these experiments do not require special training, you do not need to equip a chemical laboratory and even purchase special reagents.

To gain experience in growing crystals, start small. We will share the technique of growing beautiful crystals from anything you can actually find on own kitchen. You do not need additional equipment at all, because everything you need is definitely on the shelves. We will also consider the technology of growing artificial rubies at home!

How to grow ruby crystals synthetically?

Growing Ruby Crystals Might Even Be an Option home business. After all, beautiful synthetic stones are already in great demand among buyers today, so if the project is successful, they can bring you a good profit. Synthetically grown stones are used by jewelers and are also widely used in engineering.

Ruby crystals can be grown according to the standard method, choosing the right salts. But this will not be as effective as in the case of salt or sugar, while the growth process is much longer in duration. Yes, the quality is questionable. After all, a natural ruby on the Mohs hardness scale is second only to Diamond, occupying an honorable 9th place. Naturally, if we are talking about business, in most cases they use a different method, developed more than 100 years ago in France.

You will need a special apparatus named after the inventor of this method, i.e. the Verneuil apparatus. With it, you can grow ruby crystals up to 20-30 carats in just a few hours.

Although the technology remains about the same. Salt of aluminum dioxide with an admixture of chromium oxide is placed in the accumulator of an oxygen-hydrogen burner. We melt the mixture, observing how the ruby actually grows "before our eyes".

Depending on the composition of the salt you have chosen, you can adjust the color of the crystals, obtaining artificial emeralds, topazes and completely transparent stones.

Working with the device will require your attention and some experience, but in the future you will get the opportunity to grow crystals that fascinate with their beauty, transparency and play of color. In the future, such masterpieces are well suited for cutting and polishing, respectively, can be used for their intended purpose.

It should be noted that artificially grown crystals are not precious stones, therefore, even if you decide to enter the business of growing them, this will not require you to additionally license.

The design of the device is simple, you can easily do it yourself. But on the Internet there are already enough craftsmen offering drawings original installation, as well as its improved versions.

Kit for growing ruby crystals at home

The very principle of ruby production technology is quite simple and is schematically depicted below in the figure:

Understanding the principle of operation, any device no longer seems so complicated. One of the samples of the drawings of the Verneuil apparatus:

Using this technology, you can also grow other expensive artificial stones, such as Blue Topaz, etc.

Growing salt crystals at home

The easiest and most affordable experiment you can do is to create beautiful salt crystals. For this you will need a few items:

Ordinary rock salt.
Water. It is important that the water itself contains as little of its own salts as possible, and preferably distilled.
The container in which the experiment will be carried out (any jar, glass, pan will do).

Pour warm water into the container (its temperature is about 50 ° C). Add salt to the water and stir. After dissolution, add again. We repeat the procedure until the salt ceases to dissolve, settling to the bottom of the vessel. This suggests that the saline solution has become saturated, which is what we needed. It is important that during the preparation of the solution its temperature remains constant, does not cool down, so we can create a more saturated solution.

Pour the saturated solution into a clean jar, separating from the sediment. We select a separate salt crystal, and then place it in a container (you can hang it on a thread). The experiment has been completed. After a few days, you will be able to see how your crystal has grown in size.

Growing sugar crystals at home

The technology for obtaining sugar crystals is similar to the previous method. You can lower the cotton cord into the solution, then sugar crystals will grow on it. If the process of crystal growth has become slower, then the concentration of sugar in the solution has decreased. Add sugar to it again, then the process will resume.

Note: if you add food coloring to the solution, then the crystals will become multi-colored.

You can grow sugar crystals on sticks. For this you will need:

ready-made sugar syrup, prepared similarly to a saturated saline solution;
wooden sticks;
a little granulated sugar;
food coloring (if you want colorful candies).

Everything happens very simply. Dip a wooden stick in syrup and roll in granulated sugar. The more grains stick, the more beautiful the result will be. Let the sticks dry properly and then just move on to the second phase.

Pour the saturated hot sugar syrup into a glass, put the prepared stick there. If you are preparing multi-colored crystals, then add food coloring to the hot ready-made syrup.

Make sure that the stick does not touch the walls and bottom, otherwise the result will be ugly. You can fix the stick with a sheet of paper by putting it on top. The paper will also serve as a lid for the container, which will not allow any foreign particles to get into your solution.

In about a week, you will have wonderful sugar lollipops. They can decorate any tea party, delighting not only children, but also adults!

Growing crystals from copper sulfate at home

Crystals from copper sulphate are obtained in an interesting shape, while they have a saturated Blue colour. It is worth remembering that copper sulfate is a chemically active compound, so crystals from it should not be tasted, and care must be taken when working with the material. For the same reason, only distilled water is suitable in this case. It is important that it be chemically neutral. Be careful and careful when handling blue vitriol.

In this case, the growth of crystals from vitriol occurs in fact according to the same scheme as the previous cases.

When placing the main crystal for growth in the solution, you need to make sure that it does not come into contact with the walls of the dish. And do not forget to monitor the saturation of the solution.

If you placed your crystal at the bottom of the vessel, then you should make sure that it does not touch other crystals. In this case, they will grow together, and instead of one beautiful large sample, you will get a mass of indistinct shape.

Helpful advice! You can independently adjust the size of the faces of your crystal. If you want some of them to grow more slowly, you can lubricate them with Vaseline or grease. And for the safety of the sky-blue handsome man, you can process the edges with a transparent varnish.

There are 3 weight categories of diamonds:

Small. Weight 0.29 carats
Average. Weight from 0.3 to 0.99 carats
Large. Diamonds over 1 carat.

Stones weighing 6 carats or more are admitted to popular auctions. Stones weighing more than 25 carats are assigned proper names. For example: "Winston" diamond (62.05 carats) or "De Beers" (234.5 carats), etc.

Few people are able to remember school chemistry lessons without a shudder. Boring and incomprehensible formulas, indistinct names of substances, similar to the words of an exotic language ... the only outlet was laboratory experiments! So why not remember your school years (or if you are still studying, put the knowledge you have gained into practice) and not grow crystals at home? After all, crystals are one of the most beautiful phenomena. inanimate nature. Shining in the light, shiny, bizarre, transparent colorless or with bright juicy flowers: scarlet, azure, lemon yellow ...

Do you want to know, how to grow a crystal at home from regular sugar? Then read this article and you will know everything!

Safety Precautions When Growing Crystals at Home

Warning! Before we move on to growing crystals at home (even if they are as safe as sugar crystals) it will not be superfluous to recall the need to comply with safety precautions:

do not use food utensils during the experiment, otherwise you can get poisoned;
do not use unknown or expired substances;
after completing the experiments, thoroughly ventilate the room and wash your hands with soap;
when conducting the experiment, use gloves, goggles and an apron;
If reagents come in contact with skin or eyes, rinse them immediately with running water!
keep reagents away from children! Be extremely careful and careful!

And now, you can proceed to the experiment itself.

How to grow a crystal from sugar

Let's start with perhaps the safest and most available option– growing at home a crystal from regular sugar. We will grow an unusual crystal, but a crystal on a stick! It should turn out very beautiful and unusual. So, here step-by-step instruction how to grow a crystal from sugar:

1. First you need to prepare blanks - sticks on which we will grow sugar crystals at home. More precisely, we need 2 sets of sticks. That is, there should be twice as many of them as the number of grown crystals (it is optimal to grow at a time 5 crystals).

Any sticks will do: thin twigs, sushi sticks, etc.

Then you need to make some sugar syrup. To do this, heat a quarter cup of water with two tablespoons of granulated sugar until the mixture reaches the consistency of syrup. Dip one of the sticks in the syrup and roll it in granulated sugar so that the sugar grains cover it evenly. One of the ends of the stick (half or third of the length) should remain clean. This will be the “handle” of the sugar crystal.

First of all, you need to prepare the blanks: roll the sticks dipped in syrup before in granulated sugar

Repeat the operation with the remaining sticks.

Leave the sticks to dry overnight (or, if unbearable, at least 2-3 hours).

2. In the morning, take a saucepan and pour into it 2 full glasses of water. Put some sugar in there too. 2.5 glasses. Turn on a slow fire and constantly stirring the sugar, wait until it is completely dissolved.

In the resulting sugar syrup, add another 2.5 cups Sahara. The new mixture should also be boiled until completely dissolved.

Next, the fire is turned off, and the syrup is left on the stove to cool for 15-20 minutes. At this time, our seed sticks should be prepared. Take the sticks prepared yesterday and at the top, where there are no sugars, tie the second stick crosswise with a thread. This is necessary so that the seed can be vertically lowered into a glass with a solution when growing a crystal from sugar.

Instead of a second stick, as a holder you can use .... regular clothespin!

3. Carefully pour hot syrup into glasses. Please note that the syrup must certainly be still hot! Otherwise, nothing will come of it.

If you want to the crystal was colored, you can add a little food coloring to the syrup. Add coloring to each glass of syrup different colors and get colorful crystals!

In the center of each of the glasses with syrup, lower the sticks vertically. They should not touch the bottom of the glass, let alone its walls! The second stick will act as a holder. By the way, instead of it, you can use thick cardboard by sticking a stick with a seed into it. Or clothespin.

Glasses with syrup and sticks - leave blanks in a warm place for 7 days

Put the glasses with chopsticks in a warm and secluded place where no one will accidentally drop them, and cover with a film or newspaper to protect from dust. Crystals will grow from sugar at home 7 days. So be patient, after all, it's not that long!

4. After a week, you can carefully remove the crystals from the glasses and enjoy them! Don't be discouraged if something doesn't work the first time. Try again and everything will definitely work out! But usually, if you do everything according to the instructions, there are no problems with growing crystals from sugar at home.

These are such cute multi-colored sugar crystals that you will get in the end!

The resulting crystals can be given away to friends ( original gift!) or give a whole bunch of multi-colored crystals to your girlfriend (she hardly expects this). And you can keep it as a beautiful souvenir.

That's all. Next time you will learn how to grow a crystal from salt, soda and blue vitriol at home. Successful experiences!

How to grow a crystal at home from salt. Growing ruby ​​crystals and other artificial stones at home