Hello everyone.
Today we will grow some crystals, again.
As in the previous video, I will try to describe the whole process of growing the crystals to you.
First, we need to choose the material of which we will grow the crystal.
Essentially, practically any substance is suitable for crystal growth.
For example: protein crystals, crystals of iodine, metals crystals.
Even air can be turned into a crystal when it is cooled to a certain temperature.
For normal conditions, the best suited are inorganic salts.
And for this time I will grow crystals of potassium alum.
However, from personal experience,
I would say that copper sulfate is the best substance for growing crystals at home.
Table salt is not the best material.
Bluestone is easier to buy and you will get beautiful blue crystals using it.
To begin, lets take any vessel and pour some of our salt.
next, pour hot water into the vessel and keep adding salt until it is no longer dissolvable.
In this case, you get a saturated solution.
Be sure to add hot water.
To be sure with the proportions, different salt have their own solubility curves.
The Solubility curve is a measure of how many grams of the salt can dissolve in 100 ml's of water at certain temperature.
Also, for all of the salts, the information is different.
Once you have prepared the salt solution, it has to be filtered, while it is still hot.
Filtering is not required.
However, if you buy the chemicals in a garden shop, not in the special shop, the solution must be throughly cleaned from possible impurities.
I would still recommend to initially use pure chemicals.
After the filtration, let't leave our glass out for a few days, to let the crystals form.
Crystals form as a result of the insolubility of the salt in the water,
When the temperature changes, access crystals when can not be dissolved in the solution, they fall to the bottom of the cup.
After a day you may notice that a beautiful crystal formed at the bottom of the beaker.
These crystals will be used as seeds.
A seed is a small crystal that is emerged into the solution which will continue to grow ..... with a crystal on top of it.
Now, lets merge the solution into another beaker.
Next, choose the most beautiful and large crystal from the mass of crystals that have formed at the bottom of the cup.
Or the one that is easy to tie on the thread.
I coud also advise you to use a thin fishing line instead of threads.
Once we have tied a crystal to a beaker, we pour saturated solution of salt back there.
You can tie the thread to a regular pencil and hang the crystal in the glass, using it.
However, for myself I have decided to use a system in which the glass will be protected from dust.
I think this is not necessary and at the moment we can only wait for the crystal to grow.
Over the time of growing, the crystal will become bigger and bigger.
This occurs because the water from the solution will gradually evaporate. Thereby increasing the concentration of the solution.
Since we have a solubility curve we can learn that the access material that cannot be dissolved, must go somewhere.
And this is the substance that forms our single crystal.
Though the water will not condensate, the crystal will start to fall anyway,
on the bottom, or on the walls of the beaker.
And, one more thing to mention. During the process of crystal growing, liquids from the cup will gradually evaporate.
And therefore, the crystals grow.
But, there is also a problem.
During the evaporation, the liquid can't be contained over time, and there is not enough solution in the cup anymore,
And the further growth of the crystal will be impossible.
To solve this,
once a month or one in every two weeks
it is necessary to add a saturated solution into the beaker
the saturated solution must be prepared the same way as it was before.
however, you should not add a warm solution,
The saturated solution should be the same temperature as the growing crystal.
Also, once a month or once every two weeks, I recommend filtering the solution to maintain its clearness
Over time, in the solution is some specks, or ... might occur which can screw up the crystal.
Over time, my crystal from potassium alum become bigger.
As you can see, we have quite a very interesting form.
And now, after about three months, I have grown two beautiful crystals of potassium alum.
They are not perfect and not entirely smooth. But, I still got the single crystal's structure.
For those further known,
A sigle crystal is one large crystal.
An Apollo Crystal in a set of crystals merged together due to the growth.
Once you have decided that the crystal is large enough, and we want to stop its growth, and put it on the shelf,
we need to do some more steps.
Let's take out our crystal, form the solution and dry the surface using a cloth.
Next, we need to cover our crystal with the colorless nail polish.
Just one or two layers is enough.
This protects the crystal from drying (out) and eventual destruction.
After the nail(polish) is dried, the crystal can be taken with bare hands.
And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I invite you to enjoy the beauty of my crystal with no further comments.
Translations/subtitles by: Lauren I.