hi I am Jared. welcome to fun science demos. our friends at educational innovation sent us this
really neat science toy called the mystical crystal tree. the directions say that this
amazing tree grows like magic, so I planted this tree yesterday and today we have a tree,
and we want to take a closer look at the science that makes this science toy work. we have zoomed
in so we can take a closer look at what is in the kit, so let us pop it open, and I see a packet
of clear solution, a little plastic tray, and two pieces of cardboard and that is it. there
is a nice simple set of directions right on the package that tells me how to put this together,
so it goes like this: you will notice some slots cut into these two cardboard pieces, this one has
a slot on the top, slot in the bottom. so what happens here is they slide together,
so my tree can stand upright. sometimes you have to push a little bit, and there we go.
now to make this look like a tree I have to bend these little tree branches in all different ways,
so maybe bend one forward, bend one backwards.
all right now that I have my tree branches bent, there are four little slots that allow
my cardboard tree to slip into. now if you take a closer look at this cardboard, you are going
to notice something. parts of the cardboard, especially the top part here, actually looks
like it has a color to it. in this case it is yellow. now it is because of this coloring on the
cardboard that is going to make our tree become yellow when it is all grown. now this looks like a
packet of plain ordinary clear water, but this is not water. there is actually something dissolved
in this liquid. it is a solution, and there is something that is dissolved in here that is going
to make our tree grow. so what we have to do is tear open a corner of this packet, or cut it open
and dump it into our plastic base, and we are going to zoom in so you can get a closer look at
how that goes into our base. we have zoomed in and we ree ready to pour our solution into our base.
I can squeeze it to help it, and there is just the right amount
to fill up our base, and if you look carefully you can see something happening already.
the cardboard is actually starting to wick up that liquid solution up through the tree.
so what is happening here or what is going to happen is this liquid solution is going
to continue to be drawn up all the way to the top of the tree, through those branches. all of that
liquid will be pulled into the tree and eventually something is going to happen to that liquid.
it is going to evaporate. we pulled in our tree that we made yesterday next to our new tree,
and I want you to look and see what is missing. this tree I have the liquid solution in my base.
there is no liquid solution in the base of this tree and that is the secret to
why this tree actually grew. where did the solution go? well it evaporated.
in fact, if you look at this we can actually see what is happening here. I spilled a little bit of
the solution. there is a little wet spot right there, and then as I tried to wipe it up there
are these white streaks. well, where did that come from? this is the same stuff that is making
up our tree. you can see our tree at the bottom is white just like this, because there was no
coloring there, but at the top of the tree it is green, and in this case it is going to be yellow.
so what is the science behind our trees growing? well take a look at this. I have a glass of water.
it is just plain simple water and I have some salt.
watch what happens when I pour some salt into our water and mix it up.
in goes some salt, now I can see some salt at the bottom of my glass of water.
let us stir it and watch what happens.
all of a sudden there is no more salt on the bottom of my cup of water.
where did it go? did it magically disappear ? well no, it dissolved.
that salt is still in the water. it is a physical change. well how can I prove that? I can taste it.
it is definitely still in the water, but I can not see it. now, remember there is salt dissolved in
the water, I just can not see it, but what would happen if I let this sit for a few days?
well, all the water in the glass would evaporate. it would go into the air. we could not see it because
it is a gas. a lot of people think all the water on our planet is in the oceans, and rivers, and lakes,
but there is a lot of water in the air. we just can not see it because it is a gas, but something
interesting would be left behind in the glass. the salt that we put into the water and dissolved
would all of a sudden appear. it would be there. it would be left behind. see that is the cool part
about evaporation, when that liquid water turns to a gas and goes into the air, all of the dirt and
all of the salt ,and all of the other stuff would be left behind. I could even put food coloring in
this water, and that food coloring would actually color the salt left in our glass. that is the
science that makes our trees grow, just like salt is dissolved in this glass, and I can not see it
there is something dissolved in this solution. the directions actually say it is potassium phosphate.
well we can not see that potassium phosphate because it is dissolved in this liquid, but as that liquid
is pulled up through that cardboard tree the potassium phosphate is also pulled up through
that cardboard tree, and as that a liquid solution evaporates, the potassium phosphate is left
behind and that potassium phosphate mixes with the color, and now we have our beautiful tree, growing.
you can see our little cardboard branches peeking through the top, all of that potassium phosphate
was left behind and it crystallized. the crystals are solid the solids that were left behind after the
liquid evaporated. why is evaporation so important? well, because all of the water that evaporates from
our rivers and lakes and streams and puddles and oceans goes up into the air and that becomes our
rain and our sleet and our hail and our snow but it is clean because all the dirt and all the salt
is left behind in those rivers and streams and oceans, and the clean water is up in the air that
can fall later as rain. the people who designed this little toy call it the mystical tree, well,
I think it should be called the evaporation tree. we would like to thank our friends at
educational innovations for sending us this cool little science toy. if you want to learn
more about evaporation or weather or science, check out our YouTube channel fun science demos.
science is so cool, even when it almost happens right before our eyes! thanks for watching.