How To Grow Baking Soda Crystals At Home

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

We grow a crystal from soda with our own hands

Baking soda is an irreplaceable assistant in cooking and everyday life. Did you know that it can become the basis for a very interesting and exciting activity for all family members - growing crystals? Nature has been creating such beauty for many years, and we can speed up this process by doing it at home and showing children that chemical experiments are not at all difficult, and magic is available to everyone.

What you need to know before getting started

The scientific name of the baking soda we know is nahcolite. Under certain conditions, it forms elongated transparent crystals in the form of a prism, ending with beveled edges. They can be based on anything: stone, wood or plastic objects. Pure soda does not contain any impurities, so it produces snow-white crystals. The content of iron oxides and hydroxides can give the stones a blue, yellow or cream shade.

By sticking to the rules, you can get such a pretty crystal out of soda

To get started, you need to know a thing or two about crystal growing safety. There are few of them because baking soda is safe and we often use it in cooking or cleaning dishes. However, remember to wear gloves when working, especially if your hands are cut.

Make sure the surfaces used in the process are clean. If this is not done, then debris or dust trapped in the solution can ruin the work.

To work you need the following:

• glasses - 2 pieces;
• a pack of baking soda;
• wool thread 30-35 cm long;
• hot water;
• saucer;

• paper clips - 2 pieces.

  

  All you need is water, soda, glasses and string

All utensils and items used must be clean.

The process of growing a crystal from soda at home

1. Take glasses, pour half of hot water into each. Add 6 teaspoons of baking soda and mix thoroughly. If the baking soda is completely dissolved, add more until an insoluble precipitate appears.

   

   Dissolve the baking soda thoroughly in a glass of warm water

2. Place a saucer between the glasses. While the water is cooling at room temperature, take a thread and attach paper clips to the ends. They act as an anchor. Lower the ends of the thread with staples into glasses.

   

   Tie staples to a woolen thread

3. Position the thread so that it hangs down but does not touch the saucer.

   

   The thread should hang over the saucer, but not touch it

4. Crystals will start to appear in a few days. In the photo you see crystals that are 5 days old.

   

   Crystals appearing after 5 days

5. The growth process is based on the fact that the wool thread gradually absorbs the soda solution. Moisture evaporates, and nahcolite particles stick to the surface, forming structured formations. They also form on the saucer, where the solution drips from the thread.

6. After 2-3 weeks, your baking soda crystal will look like a necklace.

   

   2 week soda crystal

Another way

Thanks to this method, the crystals are quite large.

1. Dilute a packet of baking soda in hot water until it stops dissolving. Filter the resulting mixture through a 2-fold cotton cloth. Pour the resulting solution into a container prepared in advance for crystal growth.
2. As the water cools, small crystals will appear on the bottom and sides of the dish. On the surface of the solution, they take the form of a whitish translucent film.
3. Dip the seed into the solution. This can be a button or a nut tied to a line attached to a stick. Place a cardboard on the surface of the dish through which the seed will be passed. The cardboard prevents the evaporation of water from the container and the ingress of foreign objects and debris.
4. Place the dish with the solution in a warm place. As the water cools, you will see crystal drusen appear on the surface of the seed. The longer the experiment takes, the larger the crystal will be.

Druze of soda crystals

The peculiarity of soda crystals is that they begin to break down and crumble rather quickly, unlike sugar or salt crystals. This is due to exposure to moisture from the air. But if you keep the crystal inside a tightly closed container, you can admire its beauty for many years.

Please note that after finishing work, the solution cannot be used.

As you can see, growing a soda crystal is much easier than it seems at first glance. Perhaps you will have questions during the process: we will be happy to discuss them in the comments and find the correct answers.