Weird Science Wednesday

In this fun science experiment we will make rock candy crystals . We will grow sugar
crystals on a string and eat our delicious creation when finished. In the process we will
make a super saturated solution.

Materials To Make Rock Candy Crystals15cm piece of cotton string
A pencil
A paper clip (or large plastic bead)
1 cup of water
2 cups of sugar
A glass jar

• Tie the 15 cm piece of cotton string to the middle of the pencil.
  
• Wet the string and roll it in sugar giving it a healthy coating. Then let this dry.
  
• Tie the paper clip (or bead) onto the end of the string.
  
• Put the pencil across the top of a jar so that the string hangs down the middle of the jar. If it hangs down too far, roll the string around the pencil until the string is not touching the sides or bottom of the jar. The string will act as a seed for the crystal. Any type of jar will do, but canning jars, pint size are especially nice, they will endure the hot temperatures. Tall skinny olive jars are also nice because they don't use up so much of the liquid
  
• Now that the string and pencil are ready remove them from the jar and put them aside
  
• Get a helpful adult!
  
• Pour the water into a pan and bring it to boil.
  
• Pour about 1/4 cup of sugar into the boiling water, stirring until it dissolves.
  
• Keep adding more and more sugar, each time stirring it until it dissolves, until no more will dissolve. This will take time and patience and it will take longer for the sugar to dissolve each time. Be sure you don't give up too soon.
  
• Have your friendly ADULT carefully pour the hot sugar solution into the jars to the top. Then submerge the paper clip and string into the sugar solution. Be sure the string hangs down in the middle of the jar.
  
• The Crystals above took about 2 weeks
• The Science Behind Make Rock Candy CrystalsNow just wait. The sugar crystals will grow for the next few weeks. When you
  mixed the water and sugar you made a super saturated solution. This
  means that the water could only hold the sugar if both were very hot. As the water
  cools the sugar "comes out" of the solution back into sugar crystals on your
  string. The string and paper clip act as a "seed" that they start to grow on. With
  some luck and patience you will have a tasty scientific treat! Enjoy! Now get your
  friends and make rock candy crystals.
  
  Special ThanksThanks to Sciencebob.com for providing the experiment instructions.