Magic Chrystal Tree

Making a Magic Chrystal Tree


Project Idea from:
http://wemadethat.blogspot.com/2012/08/magic-tree.html




October 15 

Following the directions in the post above, Scholar cut out a short, fat tree. It was a soft cardboard, I would like to redo this experiment with a stiffer cardboard that would "melt" less once saturated with water.

The tree was approximately the height of my hand.

He colored the tree with markers for a while, then we found the food coloring. I think the darker colors work better than soft or neon. The container was sandwich size.

Within a few hours (4 - 6), the water had drawn up into the tree, and tiny salt spots were beginning to form.

By supper time (another 2 hours), the spots were much bigger.

And by the time I went to bed (another 4 - 5 hours) there was a fine fuzz of crystals.

Oct. 16

By morning, the crystals were beginning to be well developed. We were all amazed and delighted.

Lunch time

By late afternoon, the crystals had some real character.

I absolutely went crazy trying to capture their beauty.

Late evening

Oct. 18

I added a little more water ... really should not have done that, as the cardboard became wobbly.

Oct. 20

With most of the water evaporated, the color began to fade rapidly.

And every time it was bumped, a fine "rain" or "snow" of crystals fell.

I was SHOCKED to discover how powder soft they were.

Where the powders fell, new Crystals began forming. It was amazing, but my tree was crumbling, so we had to put our experiment away.

We saved the crystal powder, we plan to make a new tree, and add water, and see if it will make a new tree! We also hope to experiment with turning this into a Christmas present in a baby food jar. for more information: http://www.ehow.com/how_5615085_make-crystals-bluing.html http://www.ehow.com/info_8702301_ammonia-bluing.html  http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem00/chem00999.htm http://www.chymist.com/Crystal%20tree.pdf