Rainbow Crystal Project

 

 

Materials

Borax (found in laundry section)

pipe cleaners in rainbow colors

water

twine

a pencil or stick that is longer than the glass/jar’s opening

cotton balls

glue

Tools

wide-mouth jar or a glass bowl

adult supervision

Instructions

1. Using one pipe cleaner as the anchor, tie one end of the rainbow-colored pipe cleaners onto it.
2. Bend them into a half-circle.
   
3. Tie the other end of the pipe cleaners onto the anchor pipe cleaner. Cut the excess.
   
4. Fill the bowl with water to around three-quarters full. Then using a measuring cup, measure the amount of water used.
5. Boil the water in a pan under adult supervision.
6. Carefully pour the boiling water into the bowl.
7. Dissolve plenty of Borax into the hot water. For each cup of water, I used 3 tablespoons of Borax.
8. Stir the water until all the powder has dissolved or the powder left at the bottom cannot dissolve further. This phenomenon is called saturation.
9. Tie the rainbow you’ve made onto a twine. I tied it on the anchor pipe cleaner and hanged the rainbow upside down.
10. Tie the other end of the twin onto a pencil or stick and submerge it into the Borax solution. Make sure the rainbow is fully submerged and not touching the side of the bowl.
    
11. Put the bowl in an area where it won’t be disturbed for the next few hours.
12. Crystals should start forming immediately and a layer of crystals will cover the pipe cleaner completely within 3 hours. Wait another hour or two if you want a thicker rainbow.
13. When it’s grown to the desired size, take it out to dry.
14. Glue cotton balls onto the bottom.
15. Unlike growing crystals using sugar or salt, crystallization using Borax is relatively fast. Crystals can be seen forming as early as two hours after the glass is set aside.

 

Here are the Rainbow Crystal Project Instructions