My children were talking about salt and sugar crystals this morning at
breakfast, which awoke a dim memory in my mind of doing stuff with
copper sulphate.

Would it be possible to get a decent sugar or salt crystal in the
following way?

saturate near-boiling water with sugar/salt
suspend a thread with a knot at the end (to provide a convenient forming
place for the crystals) in the liquid
allow it to cool slowly

Daniele
--
Apple Juice Ltd
Chapter Arts Centre
Market Road www.apple-juice.co.uk
Cardiff CF5 1QE 029 2019 0140

D.M. Procida wrote:

My children were talking about salt and sugar crystals this morning at
breakfast, which awoke a dim memory in my mind of doing stuff with
copper sulphate.

Would it be possible to get a decent sugar or salt crystal in the
following way?

saturate near-boiling water with sugar/salt
suspend a thread with a knot at the end (to provide a convenient forming
place for the crystals) in the liquid
allow it to cool slowly

I remember trying to grow salt crystals, I could never get them to grow
very big though. Never tried it with sugar

Think we used Alum when we did this at school, back in the murky past

Lee



--
To reply use lee.blaver and ntlworld.com

Lee wrote:
D.M. Procida wrote:

My children were talking about salt and sugar crystals this morning
at breakfast, which awoke a dim memory in my mind of doing stuff with
copper sulphate.

Would it be possible to get a decent sugar or salt crystal in the
following way?

saturate near-boiling water with sugar/salt
suspend a thread with a knot at the end (to provide a convenient
forming place for the crystals) in the liquid
allow it to cool slowly

I remember trying to grow salt crystals, I could never get them to
grow very big though. Never tried it with sugar

Think we used Alum when we did this at school, back in the murky past


Lee

Try growing crystals in waterglass (used to be used for preserving eggs).
There's plenty of info if you Google for it.

Terry D.

Salt won't work very well from memory - its solubility does not vary much
with temperature so it may be difficult to super-saturate.
"D.M. Procida" wrote in
message
...
My children were talking about salt and sugar crystals this morning at
breakfast, which awoke a dim memory in my mind of doing stuff with
copper sulphate.

Would it be possible to get a decent sugar or salt crystal in the
following way?

saturate near-boiling water with sugar/salt
suspend a thread with a knot at the end (to provide a convenient forming
place for the crystals) in the liquid
allow it to cool slowly

Daniele
--
Apple Juice Ltd
Chapter Arts Centre
Market Road www.apple-juice.co.uk
Cardiff CF5 1QE 029 2019 0140

"D.M. Procida" wrote in
message
...
My children were talking about salt and sugar crystals this morning at
breakfast, which awoke a dim memory in my mind of doing stuff with
copper sulphate.

Would it be possible to get a decent sugar or salt crystal in the
following way?

saturate near-boiling water with sugar/salt
suspend a thread with a knot at the end (to provide a convenient forming
place for the crystals) in the liquid
allow it to cool slowly

Daniele
--
===================
I seem to remember that sugar was sold in 'strings' in France formed by the
method you want to try. I don't know how widespread the practice was but
somebody here with more recent knowledge of French cuisine might confirm or
otherwise.

Cic.

"D.M. Procida" wrote in
message
...
My children were talking about salt and sugar crystals this morning at
breakfast, which awoke a dim memory in my mind of doing stuff with
copper sulphate.

Would it be possible to get a decent sugar or salt crystal in the
following way?

saturate near-boiling water with sugar/salt
suspend a thread with a knot at the end (to provide a convenient forming
place for the crystals) in the liquid
allow it to cool slowly

Daniele
--
Apple Juice Ltd
Chapter Arts Centre
Market Road www.apple-juice.co.uk
Cardiff CF5 1QE 029 2019 0140

The largest singlw salt (NaCl) crystal I managed to grow just fitted into
one of those individual jam/marmalade jars used by hotels. Don't use normal
table/cooking salt - too many additives - try dishwasher salt instead.

These might be of some use:
http://www.seawhy.com/xl.html
http://trc.ucdavis.edu/Coursepages/E...vities/gc.html
http://www.unmuseum.org/excrys.htm


Max


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Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
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The largest singlw salt (NaCl) crystal I managed to grow just fitted into
one of those individual jam/marmalade jars used by hotels. Don't use
normal
table/cooking salt - too many additives - try dishwasher salt instead.

These might be of some use:
http://www.seawhy.com/xl.html
http://trc.ucdavis.edu/Coursepages/E...vities/gc.html
http://www.unmuseum.org/excrys.htm


Thanks. I hadn't thought that table salt would be that impure
nor that DW salt is pure. I'll definitely try crystals of salt.

BTW slow evaporation works best. Get a super solution
then leave in a steady temp for a few weeks. Copper sulphate
is brilliant but you might not get hold of it.

Peter Scott

Yes, table salt is very impure compared to dishwasher salt. The latter needs
a high specification to avoid fouling the ion exchange mechanisms.
"Max Holmes" wrote in message
...
"D.M. Procida" wrote in
message

...
My children were talking about salt and sugar crystals this morning at
breakfast, which awoke a dim memory in my mind of doing stuff with
copper sulphate.

Would it be possible to get a decent sugar or salt crystal in the
following way?

saturate near-boiling water with sugar/salt
suspend a thread with a knot at the end (to provide a convenient forming
place for the crystals) in the liquid
allow it to cool slowly

Daniele
--
Apple Juice Ltd
Chapter Arts Centre
Market Road www.apple-juice.co.uk
Cardiff CF5 1QE 029 2019 0140

The largest singlw salt (NaCl) crystal I managed to grow just fitted into
one of those individual jam/marmalade jars used by hotels. Don't use
normal
table/cooking salt - too many additives - try dishwasher salt instead.

These might be of some use:
http://www.seawhy.com/xl.html
http://trc.ucdavis.edu/Coursepages/E...vities/gc.html
http://www.unmuseum.org/excrys.htm


Max


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.610 / Virus Database: 390 - Release Date: 03/03/2004

Peter Scott wrote:

BTW slow evaporation works best. Get a super solution
then leave in a steady temp for a few weeks. Copper sulphate
is brilliant but you might not get hold of it.

I remember having good results as a kid with a solution of sodium
silicate and water (about 1:6 IIRC). Various substances can be used to
grow either a freely supporting crystal "garden" or just a single
crystal on a string.

Things like copper sulphate work very well (blue crystals), cobalt
chloride is very striking as well (deep red). There were various others
that I forget which gave other colours. ISTR you could use epsom salts
as well.

--
Cheers,

John.

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D.M. Procida wrote:
My children were talking about salt and sugar crystals this morning

Watch "Horizon" tonight (BBC2 9:00 pm Thursday) and you might find out how
to grow carbon crystals.

--
Laurie R

D.M. Procida wrote:


Would it be possible to get a decent sugar or salt crystal in the
following way?


Salt's solubility is more or less independent of temperature so
evaporation is the main way crystallisation will occur. Remember copper
sulphate is poisonous.

Alum makes wonderful crystals if you can get it! It's also possible to
grow a potash alum crystal and the use this as a seed for a solution of
chrome alum, giving a multi-layer colourless/purple effect, though this
is very difficult.

Cheers

Another Dave

--
Change nospam to webtribe in e-mail address

"Harry Ziman" wrote in message ...
Yes, table salt is very impure compared to dishwasher salt. The latter needs
a high specification to avoid fouling the ion exchange mechanisms.
"
snip

Does this mean I can put dishwasher salt on my chips?

Patrick