Crystal Tree for the wee ones, or gay ones

[Cracker]

This is a recipe for those "magic" crystal trees you get the kids at Christmas.

Cut thin shirt cardboard in two tree shapes like these, cut a slit going through the middle of one top down (NOT ALL THE WAY DOWN) and cut a slit in the other one bottom up so you can put them together. If you use stiff enough cardboard, they will stand up without a stand.



For the trees:
•6 tablespoons or 90 ml water
•6 tablespoons or 90 ml table salt (preferably uniodized)
•6 tablespoons or 90 ml Mrs. Stewart's liquid laundry bluing (I bought the cheap kind, it was all I could find, named Bluette)
•1 tablespoon or 15 ml household ammonia
•food coloring (optional) (the food coloring goes on the tree, not in the mix. You can put dabs of different colors at the ends of the branches)


This is one without food coloring.

Set the tree standing up (slide the slits together). Put a drop of food coloring on the ends of the branches, set in a shallow dish and pour in some of the solution. It will start to "grow" in a few hours. Add more of the solution if you cut a larger tree and it gets soaked up without covering the tree.

Here is a simpler recipe:
1 tablespoon table salt
1 tablespoon bluing
¹⁄₂ tablespoon household ammonia



You can also grow a crystal garden like they do in Appalachia (they use plain charcoal for that, so pull a burnt log out of the fire, don't use Match Lite, haha):

Here's directions: http://www.ehow.com/how_4505834_make-cha...arden.html

Don't eat this!

Next installment is crystal ornaments. hahahaha

[Lady Cop]

i love how morAns have to be warned not to eat toxic substances.

[QueenBee]

God, they still make those? I remember making them in science class in grade school.

[Cracker]

God, they still make those? I remember making them in science class in grade school.

Yes, the lucky kids still get to make stuff, I guess. My kid seems to mostly color stuff. But most people came away without the main point of the entire thing: Metals form crystals, which accounts for many of its properties.

In school they show you shit that is "cool" without explaining why it is important.

I guess the kids who were really interested are now geologists or materials engineers.

[Meow]

What a blast from the past. We used to make these. We used coal.

[Cracker]

What a blast from the past. We used to make these. We used coal.

That is where I saw them the first time, at a coal mining museum in WV. hahaha (Yes, they were an exhibit. What do you want, it's Appalachia.)

[cannongal]

home made Rock Candy is another good crystal demonstration


http://chemistry.about.com/od/foodcookin...kcandy.htm


My kids always loved that they could eat the crystals in a week.

[Cracker]

home made Rock Candy is another good crystal demonstration


http://chemistry.about.com/od/foodcookin...kcandy.htm


My kids always loved that they could eat the crystals in a week.

I used up all the sugar here doing that last weekend. Just threw it out. My little one apparently canNOT leave stuff alone for a whole week.