How to make a crystal from salt. Growing crystals from salt at home

The term "crystal" is understood to mean a substance in which the smallest particles, atoms, are arranged in a certain order. They form a crystal lattice - a three-dimensional-periodic ordered spatial packing. As a consequence, the crystals appear to have the appearance of regular symmetric polyhedra. They can vary greatly in form and have from four to several hundred faces that intersect at certain angles with each other.

Salt is a representative of the family of crystals

One of these solids with an ordered symmetrical structure is the common salt. It is a food product, occurring in nature in the form of a mineral called halite. A large number of it is in seawater and other salt sources. If you look at a grain of salt with a microscope or a magnifying glass, you will notice that they have flat faces. So, they are in a crystalline state. In this article, we'll talk about how to make a crystal of salt yourself. In fact, this is not difficult. To understand how the formation of salt crystals occurs, that is, the process of crystallization, we suggest that you carry out an interesting experience at home. It is desirable for a child to perform it under the guidance of an adult. Remember that the shape of the salt crystal can be different, including cubic, prismatic or any other - more complex. Nevertheless, the faces of the rock salt crystal always intersect at a right angle.

Let's talk about how to make a crystal from salt: the necessary supplies and tools

Well, let's get to work. What materials and tools do we need to conduct this interesting experience? Of course, salt is common, water, clear glass glasses, rope or thick thread, wooden spatula. Also, prepare the rod of a ballpoint pen or an ordinary pencil. And most importantly - you need to be patient. The fact is that the crystallization process takes time - about three weeks. How to make a crystal out of salt? Take a good salt, without any impurities. It is desirable to purchase the product with a purity of not less than 98%, otherwise the experience may not work. If the salt contains a large number of different impurities, the specimen will turn out to be ugly and will have flaws. Cultivation of crystals from the salt begins with the preparation of a highly concentrated solution. Pour warm water into a glass or jar (200 ml) and start adding salt. Do not forget to constantly stir the liquid with a wooden spatula. This is necessary for the salt to dissolve well. After the solution is ready (it can be determined by the fact that the introduced salt ceases to dissolve in a glass with water under ordinary stirring), the mixture should be heated. Fill the pot with water, put it on the fire, heat the water. Then gently place in it a glass with concentrated saline solution and wait until it warms up.

We continue to work on the cultivation of beautiful salt crystals

Then take out our glass beaker from the pan and leave it alone. On the rod of a ballpoint pen (pencil) we fix the thread, to which we tie a small crystalline salt. We put the rod on the glass and immerse in the solution a rope with "seed". It is on this salt crystal that our beautiful artifact will grow. That's all, now you just have to wait. The glass is placed in a warm place and we watch every day for the crystallization process. Under no circumstances should you shake, turn over or lift a container with a solution. Gradually the crystal will grow and become large enough. When this happens, you can carefully remove it from the solution. We advise you to dry it with a napkin, but be extremely careful - your specimen is very fragile. Cut off the excess thread and coat the crystal with a colorless varnish to extend the life of the crystal. Now you know how to get salt crystals at home. We hope you will be able to repeat our uncomplicated experience.

Crystals from sea salt: the experience of creating a beautiful exhibit

If you want to grow large, even and beautiful samples - pay attention to the following experience. For work you will need such materials and tools:

• Transparent glass;
• water;
• sea salt;
• paper;
• napkin;
• Wooden spatula;
• Flat stone of medium size.

The technology of growing the crystal is as follows. First pour in a glass not too hot water and begin to pour in it sea salt, gradually, one teaspoon. In doing so, do not forget to interfere with the spatula. The salt must be added to the liquid until it ceases to dissolve. Now take a napkin and strain through it the resulting solution. This is done so that the mote does not interfere with the formation of an even and beautiful specimen.

The process of creating large salt crystals

How to make a crystal from salt: after filtration, put a small pebble in the solution (it can be replaced by a nut) and set it to cool. Remember that the slower our salt liquid cools, the more crystals will be the size. It is advisable to cover the glass with paper and put it in a dark place, protected from drafts. After two or three days you will see how your stone will accumulate with small crystals. Carefully watch for the solution to cover the "seed" all the time. Also, weekly cleanse the liquid of dust and excess crystals that form on the bottom of the glass. As evaporation, it is necessary to add a highly concentrated saline solution to the container. Make sure that it is clean and not cold (room temperature). In addition, you must periodically remove the crust that appears on the bottom of the container. After two or three weeks, your crystal will reach about 2-3 cm in length. And in order to get a larger copy, it will take more time - about 6 weeks.

Correct salt crystals

Remember that you can not and do not immediately beautiful and smooth crystals. In any case, practice is needed. We advise you to carefully adjust the crystallization of samples, removing not very beautiful growths. You can do this with a sharp knife, scraping off excess. Also, using Vaseline, you can stop forming faces. If necessary, the Vaseline layer can be removed from the sample with acetone. When your crystal grows to the desired value, you can carefully remove it from the solution. After this, gently wipe the face with a napkin. Cover the sample with a hair spray: so your crystal will become less fragile, brittle and will retain its beautiful appearance for a long time.

Original crafts made from crystals of table salt

At home, you can not only grow a normal salt crystal, but also make an interesting craft. To do this you will need such tools and materials:

• water;
• salt;
• wire;
• Thread;
• filter paper;
• Bank - 2 pieces;
• pan;
• Wooden spatula.

We begin the work by dissolving salt in water. We bring it into the liquid in small portions, adding the next only after the final dissolution of the previous one. When the salt stops dissolving, go to the next stage. We take the pan, fill it with water and put the container on the stove for a small fire. In it we place a jar with saline solution. We follow the heating process. Continue to dissolve the salt, bringing the temperature to 65 degrees. All, turn off the gas, but until we take out the jar from the pan. The fact is that the difference in temperature can lead to the fact that the glass container will burst. After cooling the solution, you can safely get the jar from the pan.

Filtration of solution and crystallization

After that we proceed to clean the solution of impurities. We take a clean jar and fix the filter paper on its neck. Now gently pour the solution into a new container. All undissolved crystals of salt and impurities remain on the filter paper. We get a clean solution. Now put the jar with the liquid in a cool place and do the "seed". We take copper wire and perform from it any figure of an animal, a flower, a twig, an asterisk. We wind the wire with a thread. We place the workpiece in a jar with saline solution, cover the container with a napkin, leaving only a small gap. That's all, it remains only to wait for the crystals to grow from the salt. After the wire is overgrown, you can get it out of the solution. Do this very carefully, as the crystals of salt can break.