Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi my daughter is in the sixth grade and her project is due Nov.19 and we have no idea where to start, please send me some tips. Thank you! Do sugar crystal grow faster in tap or distilled water??

Hi teresa711,

If you input "Do sugar crystals grow faster in tap or distilled water?" to answers.com, you'll get the following response:

Distilled because tap water has iron, fluoride, and chlorine in it! Carbonated water has too much or sparkling and gas in the water that it isn't pure enough to grow fast enough , or the vitamins.

The above also answers the question for carbonated water.

Of course, where to start is to run the experiment, with tap, distilled, and carbonated (seltzer) waters which would also answer the question "how much faster?"

Hi teresa711,

Please look at our detailed Project Guide which will walk you through each step in the process: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... l?From=Tab
Look at "How to Do a Science Fair Project" and read the pages underneath.

We have a project about growing crystals. You should be able to follow the same procedure with each type of water. Here's the experiment: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p005.shtml

Let us know if you have any more questions!