Growing crystals

[deleted-677392]

I am assisting my 3rd grader with the Crazy Crystal Creations experiment. After the first trial, we are a bit confused. The ice bath crystal is obviously the one with the most individual crystals, but they are very small and more cloudy, so that one is eliminated from the "largest, purest" category. The refrigerated (36 degrees Fahrenheit) crystal and the room temperature (68 degrees) crystal are the problem. The refrigerated one is the larger of the two. But in looking closely at the both of them, it is hard to tell which one has the largest, most clear individual crystals. Is this common, or did we do something wrong? The room temperature crystal took the longest time to begin forming, obviously, since it took the longest to cool down. Any helpful info or advice would be greatly appreciated!

[deleted-2131]

Hi CarolH,

Crystal growing projects are sometimes quite finicky. Sometimes they turn out with nice, clear results. But, sometimes the results are not particularly clear. That's OK - it reflects the fact that crystal growth is sensitive to a lot of different factors. Regardless of what the crystals look like, your project is a success. You followed the scientific method, and these are your results. It's perfectly fine to say that it was difficult to tell whether the refrigerated or room temperature crystals were the clearest and largest. You may find that subsequent trials make it clearer which conditions led to the largest, purest crystals. Or, the answer might still be unclear. Either result is OK. The kind of observations you are making (e.g., this one is the largest, but hard to tell whether it is the purest, etc.) are precisely the types of observations that an elementary school science project should be focusing on.