How To Grow A Crystal From Copper Sulfate At Home + Photos And Videos

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 22:26

How to grow a copper sulfate crystal at home

Copper sulfate is a substance that, due to its beautiful bright blue color, is ideal for growing crystals. They can be presented to your loved ones or used as a decorative element. In any case, they will not leave anyone indifferent, and the manufacturing process can become truly exciting. So, how to grow a copper sulfate crystal?

Content

• 1 Preparatory activities

  1.1 Photo gallery: options for crystals grown by yourself

• 2 Instructions for growing a crystal

  • 2.1 Fast way
  • 2.2 Second way
• 3 How to grow a crystal from copper sulfate at home (video)

Preparatory activities

Copper sulfate can be purchased at almost any hardware store. It is actively used in agriculture for pest control. However, one should not forget that this substance is toxic. When working with copper sulfate at home, be sure to use rubber gloves and do not allow it to enter the esophagus and mucous membranes. After finishing work, wash your hands thoroughly in running water.

A real miracle can be grown from copper sulfate, but do not forget about safety during the manufacturing process

In order to make a crystal, you will need:

• water - if possible, use distilled or, in extreme cases, boiled. Raw tap water is categorically unsuitable due to the content of chlorides in it, which will react with the solution and worsen its quality;
• copper sulfate;
• glass;
• wire;
• wool thread - make sure it is thin. Long hair can be used. Copper sulfate crystals are transparent, and the thread should not be visible through them.

When placing the seed in a container with a solution, make sure that it does not come into contact with the walls or the bottom of the container. This can disrupt the crystal growth process and its structure

Photo gallery: DIY crystal options

One large crystal can be grown

By experimenting with temperature and other parameters, you can achieve different shapes and sizes.

Sometimes it turns out a lot of small crystals

Backlit crystal looks particularly impressive

Elongated crystals are good for use in compositions

Crystal Growing Instructions

There are two technologies for growing crystals from copper sulfate.

1. If you don't want to wait long, you can use the fast method. It will take about a week in time, and as a result, you will get many small crystals, fixed one on top of the other, like a colony of mussel shells.
2. The second method is longer. It will help you grow a large, solid, gem-like crystal.

But both of them are based on working with a saturated solution of a substance.

Quick way

1. Take a 500 ml glass or jar, add 200 g of copper sulfate and fill them with 300 ml of water. Place the container in a sand bath and start heating, stirring constantly. Crystals of copper sulfate must completely dissolve.

   

   Dissolve copper sulfate thoroughly in warm water

2. Remove the dishes from the sand bath, place them on a cool surface, such as ceramic tiles. The solution should cool slightly. Now you need to place a seed in it. It will serve as a crystal of copper sulfate, which must be selected in advance - the largest and evenest.

   

   Place the seed in the solution

3. Make sure that the seed does not come into contact with the inside of the glass. Even if the crystal dissolves, do not worry - it does not matter. When cooled, the saturated solution gives off salts that settle on the thread. The largest amount of vitriol will concentrate on the bottom of the dishes, since it is in this place that the glass contacts the cool surface.

   

   A saturated solution of vitriol will begin to form crystals on surfaces

4. Remove the thread with the crystals formed from the container with the solution. Repeat the procedure: place the glass in a sand bath and heat so that the precipitate dissolves. Turn off heating. Without removing the dishes from the bath, cover it with a lid of a suitable diameter (for example, a petri dish) and let the solution cool slightly.

   

   Thread with the first crystals

5. Place the string with crystals in the solution, secure it so that it does not come into contact with the bottom and walls. Cover the container and leave overnight. In the morning you will find in a glass a large cluster of beautiful crystals of an unusual shape.

   

   You can get such a crystal in a day.

6. You can try to shape the cluster of crystals. To do this, you need to use wire instead of thread. Bend it into a square, circle, heart, or star. The wire will become a strong, stable frame for the future shaped crystal. If at the same time you need to limit the growth of some of the edges, grease them with petroleum jelly or grease.

Second way

In this case, you can grow a large crystal of copper sulfate, but it will take much longer. In addition, unlike the first method, the choice of the seed is fundamentally important. In addition, you will have to make sure that small crystals do not stick to it.

You will need 200 g of warm water and about 110 g of copper sulfate

Manufacturing instruction:

• mix vitriol and water in a suitable container (glass or jar), leave for a day. Stir occasionally: the active substance should be completely dissolved. Then filter the solution through cotton wool or special filter paper. The sediment remaining on the surface of the filter can be dried and used again if necessary;
• pour the resulting solution into a clean container;
• select a crystal for a seed, tie it to a thread (hair). Fix the other end of the thread on a stick, put it horizontally on the container. The seed should sink into the solution in a strictly vertical position. Cover the dishes with a piece of cloth so that dust does not get inside;

Copper sulphate crystal suitable for seeding

after a few days you will notice that the crystal is growing. After a week, it will reach 1 cm, and over time it will increase even more

Be sure to cover the container with the solution and seed with a piece of cloth

While working, you may encounter some difficulties. They are easy to overcome by following simple rules

1. If during the growth process additional small crystals are formed inside the container, the solution must be poured into a clean dish and the main crystal must be transferred there.
2. Small crystals can form on the thread holding the seed over time. To avoid this, lift the main crystal a little higher: the smaller piece of filament will be in contact with the solution.
3. You can experiment and use nylon thread instead of cotton or woolen thread. A thin copper wire is also suitable. But in this case, the seed will grow worse and the growth process will take more time.

4. If the temperature rises in the room in which you are conducting the experiment, the seed may dissolve. Add a few tablespoons of copper sulfate to the solution and let it brew for 5-7 hours, stirring regularly. Drain the solution so that no sediment remains in it, and repeat the experiment.

   

   Large crystal obtained by long-term growth

How to grow a crystal from copper sulfate at home (video)

youtube.com/watch?v=vn-seNKEOSY

Growing copper sulphate crystals is a long process, it requires attention and patience. However, the result will surely please you. Share your experience with us in the comments. Good luck to you!