Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I have a science fair on the 26th of this month. I have been trying to grow sugar crystals for the past 5 weeks!! I have looked at many different websites and books and have done everything they have told me to, and no crystals have grown at all. I've tried different kinds of sugar, different amounts of water, and different temperatures, and still nothing has changed!! I'm running short on time and really need some help and ideas! Thank You

Hi nickname,

I'm sorry to hear that you've been having such a difficult time growing crystals! It can definitely be a finicky project at times.

Remember that your project is not a failure just because you didn't see crystals grow. You did the experiment, and the result was that no crystals grew. That is a perfectly valid result. It's probably not what you expected, but it is what you observed. So, one option would be to report your results (no crystal growth) and explain some of the reasons why your experiment may have given you an unexpected result. It often happens in science that experiments don't turn out the way we expect. Unexpected results frequently mean that their is some scientific principle at work that we did not consider, or that the experimental design had some problems we didn't recognize initially. In either case, unexpected results provide valuable information.

Alternatively, if you want to try the project again, keep in mind that sugar crystals can take a fairly long time to grow. Borax crystals grow more quickly, so you could try growing borax crystals instead: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p082.shtml.