Borax crystals

[deleted-643155]

Hi my son is working on the crazy crystal creations experiment and I’m finding it hard to get numerical data about the crystals. How do you get the size of an individual crystal? The length was basically the same in all three environments because it was the length of string submerged in solution. The width of crystal size was thinner at top and got larger as it went down in all of them. So I’m stumped on info to use for bar or line graph. Any help would be appreciated!!!

[MadelineB]

Hello and welcome to Science Buddies,

Could you measure the width of each crystal at the point where the width is widest? Then you could plot the width for each of the methods you used for growing the crystals, with three (or more) experiments for each method.

You might also try to measure the length at the widest point.

Let us know how this works out! And be sure to let us know if you have more questions.

[leacloutier]

Hi my son is also growing the borax crystals for his science fair project and we came across the same problem. Did you end up measuring the crystals at their widest point? Also, for this project what would the independent and dependent variable be?
Thanks!

[deleted-70304]

leacloutier - What grade is your student in?

You may find the suggestions in the "Make It Your Own" tab helpful. The first one offers some starting points for gathering quantitative data. https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... eityourown

To learn more about variables and how to identify them, see this resource. https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... /variables

If your student has already written a hypothesis statement, you may find that the variables are included in that statement. If you want to post what your student is thinking in terms of the variables, Experts may be able to help clarify, but we aren't able to tell you the variables outright because identifying them is an important step for students in understanding the scientific method.

Amy
Science Buddies