Praxis: How to make your own Easter egg geodes
By Patty Rooks - Praxis on April 20, 2019.
praxis@praxismh.ca I am quite excited to have a long weekend. It has been a busy few months with science fairs and I am looking forward to a bit of down time the next couple of days. With that being said, I know it will still be busy as we have to prepare for the Easter Bunny – of course! I thought this year; I would trick him by filling my Easter eggs with crystals instead of candy and show you how to make your own Easter egg geodes. Let’s get started! *Remember to ask an adult before doing this experiment. Materials – plastic eggs (empty) – measuring cups – measuring spoons – white glue – paintbrush – Epsom salts – water – kettle/pot (to boil water) – food colouring (optional) – empty clear heat proof jar or cup Procedure 1. Paint the plastic egg shell with white glue. 2. Sprinkle the wet glue with some of the epsom salts. You want them to stick to the shell. 3. Allow this to dry. 4. Fill the kettle with water and allow it to boil. 5. Have an adult help you measure 250 mL (one cup) of boiling water. 6. Slowly add 15 mL (one tablespoon) of the epsom salts to the water. Stir well. 7. Continue to add 15 mL (one tablespoon) of epsom salts stirring well after each addition until the Epsom salts will no longer dissolve it the water. 8. If you wish, you may add some food colouring at this point. Stir it well. 9. Place your “egg shell” into the mixture. Make sure it is completely submerged. 10. Be patient! It may take a day or so for your crystals to form. 11. Remove once you have enough crystals on your egg. 12. Enjoy showing off your beautiful geodes!! What is going on? In this experiment you made a supersaturated solution. This means that you cannot dissolve any more of the epsom salt crystals into the water. You are able to make a solution like this because you heated up the water which allows the molecules to move farther apart. As they are farther apart those sneaky Epsom crystals are able to move in and dissolve until there is no more room. As the solution cools and evaporates, the epsom salts begin to hit each other and join together forming beautiful crystals. 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. 31-30
