This is an old revision of the document!
Crystal growing
Name | Crystal growing |
---|---|
Description | Experimenting with crystal growing |
Status | Running |
Contact | metalgamer |
Participants | |
Repository |
Copper Sulfate
The first crystals, that we are growing are copper sulfate crystals. They give an intense blue color and are quite easy to grow. For this, we need to acquire Copper(II)-sulfate pentahydrate. The chemical formula is: $\ce{ CuSO4 * 5 H2O }$
Gather your materials:
- Copper(II)-sulfate pentahydrate
- Water
- Beaker
- Glass dish
- Spoon
Begin with boiling about 800ml of water. When it is boiling, transfer it to the beaker and start adding Copper(II)-sulfate pentahydrate until nothing will dissolve anymore. It should have a deep blue color, see picture 1.2.
Pour a little of the solution onto the glass dish, this will be used to grow some seed crystals. See picture 1.3.
Now, we have to wait, until we have seed crystals:
After about 3 hours, we can pick out one of the seed crystals and fix them to a piece of string (picture 1.5).
This seed crystal can now be hung into the solution and let it sit overnight.
The next day, take out your polycrystals and filter the solution. Use a cotton pad in your funnel.
Clear out the bottom of the beaker, as a lot of crystals have grown on it.
After the solution has been filtered, pour it back into the beaker and hang your polycrystal back into it.