Borax is a common laundry product that whitens, brightens and freshens clothes.
But when mixed with water in a concentrated solution, it can form beautiful crystals on chenille craft stick or pipe cleaners or any textured surface.
Step by Step Instructions for Borax Crystal Valentine's Day Heart
Step One:
Begin by mixing three tablespoons of powdered borax per one cup of hot water. You will need a deep plastic or glass container that will allow the base structure to be covered by the solution.
I used a one quart cup-shaped plastic container with nine tablespoons of borax and three cups of hot water. This created enough solution to easily cover a 3-inch heart shape and still leave growing room. Stir the borax solution well until all particles are dissolved. If you want the crystals to be colored, rather than clear, add some liquid food coloring to the water mixture.
Step Two:
Bend a chenille craft stick or pipe cleaner into your desired shape. It should be narrow enough to slip inside the container without touching the sides.
It should also not touch the bottom or the crystals will not form evenly. The color of the pipe cleaner will show though the crystals slightly. You can use white, pink or red for a traditional Valentine's Heart.
Use a bit of thin wire or fishing line to create a loop around the top of the heart. This will be used to suspend the heart in the borax solution.
Step Three:
Find a pencil or craft stick that will span the top of the container to suspend the shape in the borax solution. Tie or loop the heart's hanging thread over the pencil. You may be able to use the loop later for hanging the finished crystallized ornament.
Step Four
Lower the chenille stick heart into the borax solution with the pencil resting on top of the container. Let the pipe cleaner form remain in the solution for at least eight hours or overnight. Do not disturb. The crystals will continue to build until the solution cools completely. This is the watch and wait portion of the project. If you are making a heart as part of a science project, this is good time to document the growth with photos and notes taken each hour.
Step Five
When the solution is completely cool, remove the heart from the solution and place on a paper towel to dry.
If you don't have as many crystals as you'd like on the heart, you can "re-dip" to grow more. To reuse the borax solution, simply heat in the microwave and stir until all particles are completely dissolved. Add the heart form back to the solution and repeat the eight hour or more wait. The borax solution can be used over and over until you see no particles settle out.
The borax crystals will last for years if kept dry. The hearts can be stored by wrapping in plain white tissue paper and nestled into a box.
Crystal Formation Science Project: How Borax Crystals Form
Borax has a solubility of 5.8 grams per 100 milliliters of solution or 5.8 percent at room temperature. However, at an elevated water temperature, more borax will dissolve than at room temperature. As the hot borax solution cools to room temperature, it becomes supersaturated. Supersaturated solutions are unstable and the excess borax will crystallize on any rough surface.
Crystals take many forms and shapes. Different elements form different shaped crystals. You can do experiments to compare borax crystals to salt crystals.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment