How To Grow A Halloween Spider Crystal?

Halloween is coming soon. I came up with this Grow Halloween Spider Crystal idea. It is a great activity for the family to do at Halloween. Hope you guys enjoy it.

Age: 5+          Time: <20min

 Safety 

1. Adult supervision.
2. Be careful when cooking.
3. Borax is toxic, please do not eat.

 Materials List 

• Borax
• Water
• Heater
• String
• Pipe cleaner
• Bowl
• Glass rod
• Wooden stick
• Scissors
• Spoon
• Stick

 Instruction 

Step 1/5 – Shape the different color pipe cleaner into a spider.

Step 2/5 – Pour about 500ml of water into the pot and cook until it boils.

Step 3/5 – Add about 250g borax in the water, stir it until it is completely dissolved and pour the borax solution into a clean bowl.

Step 4/5 – Tie your spider to the wooden stick so that the spider will suspend in the borax solution. Lay the wooden stick across the opening of the bowl and lower the crystal into the solution. The rainbow should not touch the bottom of the container.

Step 5/5 – Wait for about 3 hours, The crystal will grow on your spider made by pipe cleaner.

 Troubleshooting 

Why my crystallization is so small?

—You need to wait for a little longer time. if this way does not work, you need to add more borax or less water when making the borax solution.

 Scientific description 

The principle behind this experiment is Supersaturation which is a solution that contains more of the dissolved material than what could be dissolved by the solvent under normal circumstances. Supersaturation is an unstable state. When the pressure is constant, the solubility of borax at high temperatures is higher than that at low temperatures. So when the temperature goes down the borax solution is supersaturated. The extra borax molecules begin to settle down to the pipe cleaner as well as on the bottom and sides of the bowl. Borax molecules come together in a specific repeated pattern because of the shape of a certain kind of molecule. Different molecules have different crystal shapes. 

 Extensions 

1. In addition to the spider idea, you can try many creative patterns. We have done this Grow Rainbow Crystal.

2. It is a good idea to grow the crystal on the eggshell. 

 Disposal 

Borax is harmful to the environment, It is best to evaporate the left solution to have the borax crystal and keep the solid for the next use.