Praxis: This Christmas decoration will be worth the wait
By Medicine Hat News on December 1, 2018.
It is hard to believe that the holiday season is fast approaching. If you look in the stores and even houses are quickly getting into the spirit of things around here! In the spirit of the fast approaching holiday season I thought we would get started on an experiment that may take some time to produce some results. Let’s get started! *Remember to ask an adult before doing this experiment. Materials – butcher string – clear glass jar – white pipe cleaner – blue food colouring (optional) – kettle – water – Borax – pencil – scissors – measuring spoon – stirring spoon – marker – masking tape Procedure 1. Take a piece of masking tape and write on it BORAX SOLUTION — DO NOT DRINK. 2. Place the tape on the jar you will be using. 3. Take the pipe cleaner and cut it into three equal sections or pieces, and twist together. Make it look like a snowflake. 4. Cut a piece of string approximately 10 centimetres in length. 5. Tie one end of the string to the centre of your snowflake. 6. Tie the other end of the string to a pencil. 7. With the help of an adult, fill the kettle and boil the water. 8. Fill the jar with boiling water. 9. Place one tablespoon of Borax in the boiling water. 10. Stir well. 11. Add another tablespoon of Borax and stir well. 12. Repeat adding one tablespoon of Borax at a time to the boiling water until the Borax does not dissolve any longer. 13. Do not worry if some of the Borax has not dissolved. It can stay in the bottom of the jar. 14. If you wish, add a couple of drops of food colouring to the solution and stir well. 15. Carefully lower the “snowflake” into the jar. It should not touch the bottom of the jar. If it does, just roll up the string onto the pencil a bit more so it is suspended in the solution nicely. 16. Rest the pencil on the mouth of the jar. 17. Set the jar aside, and do not disturb it. 18. Check your snowflake in the morning. You may have to check back for a few days. 19. Remove your snowflake and discard the Borax solution down the drain. 20. Hang the snowflakes up as beautiful Christmas decorations. Explanation Please be patient as it may take a couple of days for this experiment to produce any results. Keep checking on it, but do not disturb it by touching, shaking or moving it around. When you observe the white pipe cleaner, it should be covered in beautiful sparkling clear crystals. The crystals were able to form because you made a supersaturated solution with the Borax. A supersaturated solution is created when you followed these instructions carefully. It was very important to use boiling water in this experiment because you are able to dissolve more of the solid power form of Borax into hot water than cold water. You are able to dissolve more of the Borax in hot water because the water molecules are farther apart and made more room for the Borax crystals to dissolve into it. As the solution begins to cool off, and evaporate the Borax crystals need somewhere to go, so they begin to form or grow on the pipe cleaner. You should have a beautiful sparkling snowflake to enjoy for quite some time — it will not melt! Patty Rooks is senior scientific consultant at PRAXIS, “Connecting Science To The Community.” Contact Praxis at praxis@praxismh.ca, http://www.praxismh.ca, Tweet or follow us @PraxisMedHat, or friend us on Facebook. 42-41
